The Measure of a Man
by Neuropsych
Summary: A new story, and new characters. Not a Campers story! but read it anyways Complete!
1. Chapter 1

_**The Measure of a Man**_

_So. A new story with completely new characters. Something I haven't done for a while and thought I'd try. Hopefully you'll like it, or at least find it entertaining enough to read._

_Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off this story, and mean no infringement when I use the SGC characters. It's all for fun._

_That said, here we go!_

OOOOOOOOOOOO

**_Sixteen Months Ago_**

Las Animas County, Colorado was a fairly quiet place. Not that it was perfect, because it had its share of drunk drivers, domestic violence, drug issues and even the occasional hunter with a quick trigger who was more than capable of shooting at anything that moved – human, animal or automobile – but aside from those, it was a fairly nice place. The people were friendly, entertaining, the crime rate was well in control, and if you were a hunter or a fisherman, it was at times, paradise on Earth.

"Unless you're in charge of keeping the peace…" Sheriff's Deputy Anthony Ruff muttered to himself as he was pulled from his inner musings by the sound of a car rapidly approaching.

Interstate 25 ran through the state of Colorado, connecting Wyoming and New Mexico and in most places the freeway wound through the Rockies, the land on either side of the road sometimes dropping as much as several hundred feet straight down with only a guardrail to protect you if you lost control. Not necessarily an environment that encouraged high rates of speed.

On this particular stretch of road, however, it was flat, with the land on either side going straight up instead of down and offering a fair amount of security to even the most timid of drivers. This was the stretch of road that saw the most speeders, and because of that, the most wrecks. A stretch of road that required constant patrolling to keep the accident rates down, and the fatalities to a minimum.

The car roared by Anthony's cruiser going almost 100 miles an hour – ninety-seven when he looked at the radar gun attached to the dash of his car. It was a muscle car, bright yellow and easy to see in the light of the full moon that had the sky lit up almost as bright as Anthony had ever seen it. He pulled onto the road and accelerated, even as he radioed to central command that he was in pursuit of a speeder, and would follow soon with a license plate number.

At the rate of speed the car had been going, he'd been lucky to even see what color it was.

Aided by the fact that he was intimately familiar with the roads, Anthony had no qualms about going over a hundred miles an hour as he tried to catch up to the car ahead of him. He purposely kept his flasher lights off, to avoid a car chase that he didn't feel like initiating, and was rewarded less than fifteen minutes later when he finally spied the taillights of the car ahead of him. It was the only car on the road beside himself, so even if it had been a brown Plymouth, chances were he'd have been able to identify it as his quarry.

By now the road had turned steep and winding, and the yellow muscle car had slowed down, the driver not as much of a moron as Anthony had first assumed. Which was good, because hopefully that meant this would be a simple citation and on their way type traffic stop. Not something more sinister – or dangerous.

He radioed in the license number of the car once he was close enough to see it, and could see by the way the driver kept turning his head that he'd been recognized as a police officer. If the guy was going to run, this would be the best time for it. Instead, when Anthony lit him up with his flashers, the car slowed even further, driving until they reached a turn around spot where the road widened, and then pulled over and came to a complete stop.

Now, as Anthony pulled his cruiser in behind him and hit him with the spotlight, the guy could take off as well. It wasn't as common, really, because he'd have already been identified by his plates – unless they were stolen, or the guy was too drunk to realize any of the above – but it did happen occasionally. Which was why he kept the car running as he stepped out and walked up to the driver's side, his left hand hovering over his sidearm, but not touching it.

The window rolled down and the driver turned off the car, a clear sign to Anthony that he wasn't going to try and run – or try to run him over, which was a relief as well.

"Good evening, officer…" the driver said.

Anthony nodded, his hand still close to his gun, but his manner relaxing even further as he noticed the man's hands were near the steering wheel and not hidden from sight. Clearly, this man had been pulled over before and knew the drill.

"Good evening, sir," Anthony said, looking in the car as well as watching the driver for any sign that there was more to him that meets the eye. "Do you know how fast you were driving?"

"When you pulled me over?"

Anthony had to smile at that, even though he'd already decided that the guy was going to get a ticket unless he had a pretty good story. Maybe even if his story was a great one.

"Before that, sir."

"Seventy?"

"Try _ninety-seven_."

The man looked surprised.

"Really?"

"Can I see your license, please, sir?"

The man nodded.

"I'm sorry, officer…" he said as he fished his wallet out of an inside pocket of the jacket he was wearing. "I'm not normally a speed demon like this, but I'm a _doctor_, and I'm supposed to be in surgery in less than an hour and I'm running behind."

He handed his license over and Anthony looked at his hand as he did so. They were smooth and unaccustomed to hard labor; they _could_ be a doctor's hands.

"I'll get you on your way as soon as possible, sir," Anthony told him, taking the license from him and looking at it. _Tobias Johnson, MD_. Huh. "Could I see your-"

"Here's my insurance and registration," Johnson interrupted, reaching up to the visor and handing him a small stack of papers.

"Thank you, sir."

Anthony took all the information back to the cruiser, and used his onboard computer to check the registration of the car first. It wasn't stolen and _was_ registered to Johnson, who Anthony then looked up as well. Several tickets for speeding, but nothing so reckless as the ninety-seven he'd been going tonight, and no warrants or outstanding speculations.

Relieved that he hadn't caught a serial killer or something, he wrote out a citation for the speeding in his crisp handwriting and got out of his car once more.

"No way I can talk myself out of this?" Tobias Johnson asked with a hopeful smile as he approached.

"You were putting yourself and others at risk, Doctor Johnson," Anthony told him as he handed him the pad for him to sign. "No operation is worth killing yourself to get to."

Johnson sighed, but nodded his agreement and handed the signed ticket back to Anthony.

"Thank you."

It could have been worse, and he knew it. He was a smart guy, after all.

"You're welcomed, sir. Have a nice night."

He pointedly left it at that and went back to his car. As he did so, he noticed a light somewhere around the moon that definitely wasn't a star. He frowned, looking up at it and didn't even notice when the doctor started his car and left. The light grew brighter, until it seemed to be hovering just above the valley, and he reached into his car for his radio.

"Dispatch, this is-"

There was a squawk on the radio, and then the hiss of static for an instant before the thing went completely dead. An instant later the dash lights went out as his cruiser turned off.

Anthony clicked the radio a couple of times, but nothing happened. He opened the door to get in and start the car back up when he was suddenly enveloped in a light that seemed to be brighter than the sun. An instant later, all that was on the side of the road was the cruiser. The sheriff's deputy that had been driving it was gone without a trace.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's note: This story takes place right after the whole Loki cloning O'Neill thing just so you all have an idea of the timeline. It might not be exactly the same as in the show, but it's an AU, so that only makes sense._

OOOOOOOOOOOO

_**Present Day**_

Colonel Jack O'Neill frowned down at the paper on his desk, wondering how the hell he was supposed to write a report about being cloned by a rogue Asgard and tested on and still manage to sound objective about the whole ordeal. The military frowned on phrases like '_the bastard was a psycho alien who had the scruples of Dr Moreau on crack'_ in their reports, but really, that's how Jack felt about things. He was angry, and felt used, and certainly thought that the Asgard had better take steps to make sure that something like that never happened to someone else, or who knew what-

A knock on his office door pulled his attention from the report, and he looked up to see his second in command poking her head into his office.

"Hi. Got a sec?"

Which meant it wasn't something serious, or she'd have called him _sir_ at least once, he knew.

He nodded, relieved to have something to distract him from his report – a report he absolutely had to file today.

"What's up, Carter?"

She entered the room and walked over to his desk.

"I was just going through my report, and thought I'd see if you had anything you wanted to add to it."

"You've _finished_?"

She nodded, amused but hiding it as well as she could. He knew her well enough to know that gleam of amusement in her eyes, though.

"A little while ago. Want to look at it?"

He nodded, clamping down on his eagerness. It was a lot like cheating on someone's homework, but if he could find a few phrases in hers that could be _paraphrased_, well… what was the harm in that?

"If you'd like another opinion, then I'd be happy to help you."

She wasn't fooled a bit, and he knew it.

"I'll go-"

Another knock on the door interrupted her, and they both looked over. This time it was Daniel who was peeking through the door, and his expression was a lot more serious than Carter's had been. Jack groaned inwardly, and wondered what had happened to make those little wrinkles between Daniel's eyebrows show up this time.

"Just the two I needed to find," he said, walking in without asking for an invitation. "We have a problem…"

"What?" Carter asked.

"What else is new?" O'Neill asked, as well. He dropped the pen he'd been holding and stood up, despite the fact hat he was sure he'd want to sit down any minute. "What's going on?"

"We need to go see General Hammond. He's with Thor and Teal'c."

Great.

Daniel left without making sure they were following – mainly because he knew that they would be – and O'Neill and Carter shared identical worried looks before following after him without a comment.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Hammond was in the briefing room just outside his office. No big surprise there; that's where they almost _always_ found out about bad things happening. That and the gate room, but there hadn't been any offworld activation recently. The general's guest was seated in a chair that was clearly too big for him, but one that he sat in easily. He was used to it. Across from him sat Teal'c, looking stoic and serious. But _that_ didn't say anything, because the big Jaffa always looked that way.

"Thor…?" Jack greeted him and questioned him at the same time as he walked in the room.

"Colonel O'Neill. It is good to see you again."

"Thanks."

He didn't sound all that thankful, but the Asgard ignored that.

"How is your clone?"

Jack scowled. It wasn't really something he wanted to talk about. _Especially_ to an Asgard.

"I don't know. I haven't seen him."

"I would be interested to see how his development differs from the one you, yourself went through at the same age," Thor said. "The very-"

"But right now we have a problem," Hammond said as he gestured for them to sit down.

"Yes," Thor agreed, changing the thread of his conversation immediately. "One that we had to bring to your attention, despite the already tenseness of my people's relations with yours."

"What kind of problem?" Carter asked, both intrigued and curious. The Asgard were far more advanced than the people of Earth, and they didn't need help often.

"We were interrogating Loki about his unsanctioned experiments on your people," Thor said, looking at O'Neill rather than Sam. "And found something rather disturbing."

"You mean besides the fact that you just used the word _unsanctioned_ as opposed to _completely disallowed_?" Jack asked.

"When the Asgard study a race, they never intend harm," Thor said. "What Loki did was inexcusable. And wrong."

"So what's the problem?" O'Neill asked, not even bothering to argue about the fact that they shouldn't be experimenting at all.

"It involves the _first_ subject Loki took from your planet to study," Thor replied.

"Oh?"

Now he was _sure_ this was going to be bad. Or infuriating. It had to be something bad, because Thor almost looked guilty – which was saying something when it came to Asgard expressions.

"He was never returned," Hammond told them, his own expression bleak.

"Loki _killed_ him?" Sam asked, surprised.

"No." Thor shook his head as much as his neck would allow. "He _lost_ him."

"What?"

"His first attempt at cloning a subject turned out even worse than when he attempted to clone you, Colonel O'Neill," Thor said. "And perhaps for a similar reason – although the information we have on this subject is very limited. Loki was uncertain what to do, and tells us that he didn't dare return the subject to where he was found – for fear of being caught before he had the information he was looking for. Instead, he placed the subject with a group of humans on a protected planet and asked them to take care of him – telling them that he was mentally unstable and needed help that the Asgard were unable to give."

"And they believed him?" Sam asked, shaking her head.

Thor looked at her.

"Why would they doubt him? Our kind have had very close relations with this group of humans in the past – although of late we have been distancing ourselves from them to keep them from relying on us too much."

"Everyone but Loki, anyway," O'Neill said, scowling.

"Yes."

"So, we're going to go get this poor guy?"

"We went to the planet to retrieve him," Thor told him. "When we arrived, the settlement had been destroyed and the people scattered."

"So Loki got this guy killed in some kind of planetary war that he had no business being in the middle of?"

_Now_ Jack was angry.

Thor shook his head.

"He was not killed, O'Neill. The survivors of the raid told us that he was captured and taken away."

Sam frowned.

"By who…?"

"Those who attacked the settlement were Jaffa."

"So the _Gou'ald_ have this guy?" O'Neill asked in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me."

"And we need to find him," Hammond said. "If we can."

"If he's even alive…" Daniel said, softly, shaking his head.


	3. Chapter 3

"So how are we supposed to find this guy?" O'Neill asked, glaring over at Thor but throwing the question out to everyone.

"It'd be like looking for a needle in a haystack," Carter added.

"A _huge_ haystack, filled with a gazillion needles that looked pretty close to exactly like the one we want-"

"We're going to call the Tok'ra," Hammond interrupted.

"Does this guy even have a _name_?" Jack asked.

Thor looked over at him.

"We are uncertain what-"

"We can cross reference the date he vanished with whatever missing people reports that might have been filed at that time," Daniel suggested. "Maybe we'll get lucky."

"A lot luckier than this guy got," O'Neill said.

"We are as concerned about the actions Loki took as you are. O'Neill," Thor assured him. "My people are willing to assist you in your search."

"Oh, I doubt very much that you're anywhere _near_ as concerned about-"

"Colonel O'Neill," Hammond interrupted before Jack could say anything that might really strain the relations with the Asgard – which were strained already. "Help Doctor Jackson find out who our missing man is. Major Carter? Call the Tok'ra, please."

Carter nodded and stood up, as did Daniel. Jack looked like he was going to say something, but after a moment's hesitation, he visibly clamped down on whatever it was and left the room, following Daniel.

Hammond looked over at Thor to gauge just how much he'd caught of that. The little Asgard looked unruffled.

"He's had a long week."

"I am aware of that, General Hammond."

OOOOOOOO

"Can you believe this?"

Daniel was used to Jack shouting. Usually, it was at him, but every now and then it was about something else, and that made it a little easier to put up with. He started entering data into the computer in the command center, while at the same time watching Jack fume beside him, too angry to stand still and help. Not like he would have been all that much help anyway.

"It's terrible."

"_Terrible_? That's the best you can come up with? Who knows what this guy has been dealing with – completely clueless to what's going on and how he even got where he was, I'm sure. What if-"

"Jack. I know. It's terrible, disgusting and tragic. But if you keep pacing between me and the computer I'm not going to be able to try and figure out who this guy is. Why don't you help Sam?"

"Because Hammond ordered me to help _you_."

Daniel sighed.

"Then go get me a cup of coffee. This might take a while."

O'Neill scowled and Daniel actually expected him to blow his top, but the absurdity of the request took him so much by surprise that he actually did it.

OOOOOOOOOOO

It was less than an hour later when Daniel called for them to all gather back in the conference room. He wasn't there – and neither was O'Neill – but Hammond and the others all sat down and waited, knowing there was probably a good reason they'd been summoned. Sure enough, the door opened almost immediately, and Jack and Daniel walked in.

"We found him," Daniel said without preamble.

Jack dropped the file he'd carried in the room down onto the table with a loud thud.

"He's a cop."

"Actually," Daniel corrected, before anyone could reply. "He's a Deputy Sheriff."

"Are you sure?" Sam asked, reaching for the file.

O'Neill nodded.

"Deputy Anthony D. Ruff."

The picture showed a man of about thirty-five or so, with a crew cut and warm blue eyes in a police uniform.

"It fits. He vanished a year and a half ago in the middle of his shift. Just finished writing a ticket and never called in afterwards."

Hammond frowned.

"It's always possible that the person who got the ticket did something drastic…"

Daniel shook his head and picked up the remote control to the video screen.

"This is the video from the police cruiser in Officer Ruff's car…" he turned off the lights and turned on the player.

"It's a Federal case, because the disappearance happened on a Federal highway," O'Neill explained. "We had no trouble getting all the info on it, including this…"

The camera in the dash showed the quick chase after a speeding car, and the subsequent traffic stop. It showed the officer getting out of the car, returning after a brief discussion with the driver and then once more approaching the car – this time with a ticket. The next discussion was even shorter, but hardly threatening. The deputy walked back to the car, and the speeder left only a moment later. As soon as the deputy was out of frame, there was a flash that lit up the darkness, and then nothing. They all watched in silence as the camera showed nothing. No movement from the deputy – who apparently vanished into thin air – and no sign of the speeder returning to initiate foul play. For several long minutes there was nothing, and then the dispatcher could be heard asking for a status report.

"He wasn't seen again," O'Neill said, breaking the silence. "The doctor who was pulled over was questioned, but the video clearly shows him leaving, so they didn't consider pressing charges – and the FBI came up with nothing."

"The flash of light clearly indicates Asgard beaming technology," Teal'c said, looking over at Thor.

"Yes."

"You both agree this is the man Loki abducted?" Hammond asked.

Jack and Daniel both nodded.

"Absolutely. We-"

An alarm sounded throughout the facility, and everyone looked toward the window that looked over the embarkation room.

_"Offworld activation!"_

Sam wasn't the only one to get to her feet, but she was the first to speak.

"That'll be my dad," she said. "He said he'd come as soon as he could."

"Good," Jack replied.

If anyone could find a cop in the middle of a bunch of snakes, it'd be other people with snakes. Right?


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: This chapter is more or less a transition. I wasn't positive I was going to do things from Anthony's perspective, but really I'd be doing the story a disservice if I didn't, so I figured what the heck. Sorry if it's boring, though, or drags on and on…_

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony Ruff shivered. The temperature on the space ship was well within the range of comfort, but he never seemed to be able to warm up. It might have had something to do with the strange (and rather skimpy) outfit he was wearing – an outfit that was still far less revealing than the ones the women wore – but he knew that wasn't the problem. Part of it was the eerie sight of the stars being so close you could almost touch them. He looked out the portal (or whatever they called it on the space ship – he still hadn't learned enough of the language to have much hope of knowing what everything was called) and only saw stars and blackness. Cold, empty blackness that sent a chill through him every time he looked at it. With no planet in sight, the scene was nothing like those shots of the Earth from space taken from the shuttle, or from the moon. It was unfamiliar and bleak and not at all comforting like some of the others said it was to them.

He looked around the slaves' barrack at those who were his companions. They were all human – none of them from Earth – and most of them looked about as dejected as he felt when he looked at them, although a few were joking and laughing softly in some language that he had no chance of understanding. _The slave barrack_. He frowned, and looked back out the portal at the passing stars, wondering how far away from Earth he was now. Too far to ever find his way back, he was sure.

Which only made him shiver again.

He'd been dumbfounded by the sight of the little Roswell looking alien that had introduced itself to him after the bright light had apparently abducted him. That had only lasted a little while. Then there had been fear. He'd heard stories of UFO abductions, of course. Stories that he'd mostly contributed to crackpots and hippies with nothing better to do than sit around the desert watching for odd lights in the sky. Most of those stories had included experiments of all sorts – painful and humiliating ones from what he could remember. Now that he seemed to be living those stories, he wished he'd paid more attention.

The little alien had been polite and reassuring, however. He'd been given something – a shot that hadn't hurt – and that had relaxed him so much that Anthony couldn't really even remember what had happened next. He certainly didn't remember any experiments or pain. Not even panic and terror.

The next thing he remembered clearly was standing in the hot suns – _suns!_ – and watching as the little alien spoke to a group of people who were looking at him with sympathy and trying very hard to get him to put the hood of his cloak over his head. Then the alien had vanished in a beam of light, and Anthony found himself alone with these strange people without any idea where to find the nearest phone or embassy or anything to try and get some help.

The people had shown him a little tent and had given him food, but he hadn't eaten. He ran away, instead, which had been a reaction to the strange place and the situation – or maybe whatever the little alien had given him. And had been a terrible mistake that had almost killed him.

By the time the people who had been given charge of him had managed to find him, he'd been out in the extreme heat of the day and was well into the intense cold of the night. Delirious from exposure and shock, he'd been taken back to the little settlement of tents and had been nursed back to health.

It was during this period that he'd realized he wasn't on Earth. The people were too strange, and the three moons and two suns were a dead giveaway. Something that couldn't be manufactured even if this whole thing had been some crazy hoax meant to screw with him – although he didn't know anyone who would even want to pull a prank like that on him. His wife hadn't made an appearance – and he was certain now that he'd never see _her_ again – nor had he seen any planes overhead or any sign of any sort of technology beyond the wells that the desert people had.

He tried to keep track of the days, but that had proven impossible from the start. He didn't know how long he'd been with the alien, or how long he'd been delirious, or for that matter how long a day even _was_, since his watch had crapped out on him almost from the beginning. He stayed with the desert people because he didn't have any place else to go – and because he held a faint hope that someday the little alien might come back and take him home – and he made himself as useful to them as he could, which usually meant helping with their small herds of something that looked pretty much like a cow but smelled worse than anything he'd ever had the sorry pleasure of being near. In return the people kept him fed and clothed and started to teach him to communicate with them.

He was just starting to get that down when the Ghouls came. First it was the Jaffa – a bunch of huge warriors in outlandish costumes and very much the opposite of the people he'd found himself living with. They'd attacked the small settlement, destroying almost everything and killing a good percentage of the population. The cop in Anthony told him that there had been a pattern to their destruction and killings, but he couldn't figure out what it had been. The situation wasn't like anything he'd ever seen before. Certainly nothing he'd seen in anything short of the movies.

He'd been more than willing to defend himself and the others of the settlement when the Jaffa came. Frustration and anger were both something he'd pretty much submerged himself in since he'd been placed where he was, and that was coupled with what might have been diagnosed as suicidal tendencies had Anthony had a chance to see a shrink in that period of time. It hadn't mattered, though. Even the self defense that he was taught wasn't worth a crap when it came to the Jaffa, and they'd shot him with a stunner that had hurt a lot worse than the one time he'd been shot in the line of duty.

When he came to, he'd found himself in an artificial environment that was as alien as the desert settlement, and far colder – both in temperature and in setting. The people in the room he'd woken up in were withdrawn and many of them were just as battered as he felt. They'd all jumped to their feet, though, when the Jaffa entered the room, and when the Ghoul had followed there were many fearful glances cast his direction.

The Ghoul had studied every man in the room, stopping in front of Anthony for a long time with cold, dark eyes. Anthony had glared back him, not cowed by this man when he'd faced so many thieves and murderers and druggies in his time, but he'd learned very quickly the price for that insolence and the Jaffa had knocked him on his back with only the slightest gesture from their Master. When he'd recovered enough to be pulled to his feet once more, the man had waited to see if he was going to repeat his performance. Instead, Anthony had held his side, panting.

"Who are you? What do you want?"

The Jaffa had moved, clearly ready to strike him for speaking out of turn, but the Ghoul had held up a hand to stop him.

"Where are you from?"

His blue eyes had marked him different from the other men that had been taken from the desert settlement – as had the fact that he was several inches taller. The man's voice had been so deep it was hard to understand him, but it was the first time Anthony had been able to understand any words spoken to him in what seemed forever, and that alone made him answer.

"Colorado."

Which had meant nothing to his captor. The man's eyes suddenly glowed, and _now_ Anthony stepped back, uncertain what that meant – if anything. It definitely wasn't normal.

"Where is Colorado?" the man had asked.

"The United States."

Which wasn't the right answer, either, Anthony soon found out. The Ghoul turned to his Jaffa.

"Bring him."

The Jaffa stepped forward as the man turned and left, and Anthony took another step back.

"Don't," one of the men from the settlement whispered harshly. "They'll kill you."

"What do they want?" Anthony had asked, panicked.

The man had simply shrugged, helplessly.

"We belong to the Ghoul now."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Which hadn't meant anything to him then, Anthony thought bitterly as he turned to look back out at the stars. Now he knew, though. Several beatings – many of them serious enough to leave him bloody and with broken bones – had taught him how to act like a slave despite how the very thought of belonging to someone else filled him with rebellion and hate for all things Jaffa _and_ Ghoul. Between those moments of hate, however, was a lot of despair and hopelessness.

He was a long ways from home, and was certain he was going to die on this miserable ship with these miserable people.


	5. Chapter 5

It didn't take them long to fill Jacob Carter in on what was going on and what they'd called him for. The Tok'ra/general lost the smile he'd had from greeting Sam fairly early on in the explanation and by the time Daniel had finished telling the story – complete with showing him the file on Officer Ruff – Jacob looked appalled enough to even satisfy O'Neill.

"How could they do that?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"Not _they_, Dad," Sam corrected. "He. It was just Loki, not the rest of the Asgard."

"He, then." Jacob tossed Thor a look that clearly asked what he intended to do about the situation, and the Asgard easily recognized the look.

"The Asgard are willing to assist with the search for your missing-"

"His name's _Anthony_," Jack interrupted. "Or Officer Ruff. Let's call him by name and not by designation, shall we?"

"The Asgard are willing to assist in the search for Officer Ruff," Thor corrected himself easily. "But the Tok'ra have a much better chance of discovering the whereabouts of a captured civilian than we are – at least when it comes to that person being captured by the Goa'uld."

There was a slight pause in the conversation, which they all correctly interpreted as Jacob having a discussion with Selmac. Sure enough, the next one who spoke was the symbiote.

"There are many possibilities," she told them using Jacob's voice – although much deeper than the norm. "He could have been killed outright, used as a host if one was needed immediately, tortured for whatever information they might have been looking for – if any – or turned into a slave for the System Lord in charge of the raid."

"Killed outright we can't do anything about," Jack admitted, grudgingly. "But if he's still in the hands of the Goa'uld, we need to find him"

"He cannot supply the System Lords with all that much intelligence about your planet," Thor pointed out.

"That's not why we need to find him," Hammond said, sharply.

"The first place to start would be the planet that he was taken from," Jacob said. "I mean, besides _here_, of course. If we can find out who attacked them, we'd have a better chance of finding out which System Lord might have him."

"The people of the planet do not speak your language," Thor told O'Neill, who was clearly intending to accompany Jacob. "We can help you with that."

"How?" Daniel asked, curiously.

"A simple device implanted in the language center of your brain will aid in translation. It will not be precise, but it will be close enough that you could understand-"

"You want to put a chip in our brains?" Jack asked in disbelief.

"Only temporarily," Thor replied. "They are not safe for extended use – at least not with your kind – but for a few days they will do no lasting harm."

O'Neill scowled, but Daniel actually looked excited. Which only made Jack scowl more.

"What kind of side affects do these things have?" Hammond asked, curiously. He wasn't any more thrilled about the idea of the Asgard messing with his people than he was about the idea of leaving matters entirely in Jacob's hands. Not that he didn't trust Jacob, because he _did_, but he didn't trust all the rest of the Tok'ra and it would be helpful if his own people knew what was being said around them.

"There are none. The device simply dissolves into the bloodstream after 72 hours."

"And the surgery to have them implanted?" Sam asked, looking more curious than anything else. Big shock there.

"It is painless for the most part."

"Which doesn't sound painless, really…" O'Neill pointed out.

"Not so much," Daniel agreed. He still looked more excited than nervous, however.

"It is completely up to you," Thor said, giving the Asgard equivalent of a shrug. "But the technology is there."

"I'll take it," Daniel said, immediately. "I can always translate for the others."

Which wasn't good enough for Jack – not in this instance, anyway.

"It won't mess with my mind in any other way?" he asked the little alien.

"No."

"No weird visions?"

"No."

"No nervous twitching?"

"No."

"No munchies when it's out?"

Thor hesitated, uncertain what that meant, and Sam interrupted.

"I'll take it, too."

The Asgard turned almost gratefully to her.

"I will also provide transportation to wherever we need to go."

"You will?" Jacob asked, surprised.

"This is our fault," Thor pointed out. "It is the least we can do."

"Well, that's more like it," Jack said.

There was a lot of firepower on Thor's ship, and that was a lot of backup in the event of a firefight or something.

"Let's find him, then," Hammond said, officially closing the meeting.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Lord Ba'al requires a servant."

Anthony looked over at the entrance to the slave barrack, but certainly didn't plan on volunteering. For one thing, he had a real problem with the word servant. _To protect and to_ _serve_ was one thing, but to be forced to wait on someone was completely a different matter and it railed him every time he was forced into that particular situation. For another thing, he had a real hard time keeping a straight face every time anyone said the name of the Ghoul who ran things. Who could worship someone named Ball? Why not name himself _Plant_? Or _Giraffe_? His amusement for the name showed, unfortunately, most of the time, and he'd been beaten more than once for that alone. The last thing he wanted was to volunteer to put himself into such a situation.

The Jaffa who had made the announcement wasn't looking for a _volunteer_, however. He knew what his Master was going to be doing, and knew what kind of slave he'd want for the event. One who didn't speak their language very well – so he wouldn't know what was being discussed – but was intelligent enough to understand pantomimed commands, and one that was exotic, but not outlandish, and strong enough to have stamina in case the conference went long into the next day.

He looked directly at Anthony, who knew right away that he was going to be picked. And knew that there wasn't anything he could do or say to get out of it – even if he could communicate well enough to come up with some kind of excuse. Which wouldn't work, and would probably just earn him another beating.

"You."

Well, crap.


	6. Chapter 6

"The sick one was brought by the Asgard."

Jack managed to conceal a very annoyed sigh. The suns were way too hot for comfort on this little sand planet, and he was practically boiling in his uniform – although he didn't dare take it off because he'd probably scorch his skin in record time. Not to mention the little chip in his head was driving him crazy.

Not that it didn't _work_ – because it pretty much did – but it wasn't complete, because there were some words the people around him were saying that he just wasn't able to catch the meaning of. Which was really annoying, even though it was clear the people themselves were trying to be helpful.

"We know that," Daniel said with far more patience than O'Neill ever could have managed. "But when he was taken, did you happen to see what the Jaffa looked like?"

The assembled people were barely rebuilding from the attack themselves, but they had been willing to speak with the strangers when they'd arrived on their planet, and had even offered what little they had by way of refreshments to beat back the heat of the day.

"They were big," one of the women said. "With devices on their heads and-"

"Devices?" Sam asked, interrupting.

"Not devices," Jacob said. He didn't need the translator chip because he had Selmac who knew more languages than even Daniel and was more than willing to share that knowledge with her host. "_Decals_. The seals…"

They hadn't brought Teal'c along for obvious reasons, but when Jacob pointed to his forehead the woman nodded. So did a couple of others.

"Can you draw what they looked like?" Jacob asked, smiling a reassurance.

Again they nodded and Daniel was quick to reach into one of the voluminous pockets of his pants and pull out paper and a pencil. They'd already figured out that the people probably wouldn't know the names of the various system lords – or which design each had for their Jaffa. But Jacob knew. All he'd need is a picture.

OOOOOOOOO

Anthony stood at rigid attention beside the Jaffa who stood beside Ball. His side was killing him, but he refused to give the Ghoul the satisfaction of knowing that he was hurting. The room they were in was one that Anthony hadn't been in before, and it was a big one. There were several low-slung pieces of furniture that looked pretty much like a couch to him – or more like a love seat, he decided when he watched Ball settle himself into the closest one – and a large table off to the side that was loaded down with foods of all sorts. Most of which had origins Anthony couldn't even guess at. They smelled wonderful, though, and he groaned inwardly knowing that he wasn't going to be fed – and who knew how long he was going to have to stand here? The Jaffa standing beside him seemed to sense that his mind wasn't completely on what he was doing, and the big warrior turned and gave him a piercing look that showed threat in every nuance.

Anthony had to force himself not to reach up and rub his side, which had been the Jaffa's target when he hadn't jumped for joy earlier in the slave's barrack's after being chosen to be Ball's servant for the day. The Jaffa were very good at administering beatings that didn't show any sign of abuse from the outside but hurt a lot on the inside. Ironically, Anthony had known a guy who was a guard at the federal prison in Lakewood who had been almost as good at beating the prisoners who'd managed to piss him off somehow in the course of the day without leaving a mark. He'd disapproved of it then, and definitely hated that ability now that he was on the receiving end of things.

Before the Jaffa could remind him to pay attention to what he was doing – which was absolutely nothing just then – there was a sound of some kind of odd fanfare, and the door on the far end of the room opened. A woman walked in. A woman who was dressed in a skin-tight provocative dress that showed every detail of her impressive figure and still managed to look formal. Ball remained seated in his couch, but the Jaffa beside Anthony gave a low bow of respect – although Anthony noticed he didn't lower his eyes but remained watching her and the two who followed her into the room closely.

One was another Jaffa – this one with a different tattoo on his forehead than the ones that the Jaffa on Ball's ship sported – and the other was clearly as much a slave as Anthony himself. This slave was holding the delicate train of the woman's dress off the floor, and he followed her as she stood in front of Ball, uttered a few words in a voice that was easily as deep as the Ghoul's. Anthony realized that she had to be a Ghoul, too. Just a _woman_ one. Ball's mate? The cop in him said no. Not from the distrust in the expressions they were both wearing. Probably a contemporary.

Ball replied to whatever it was she said – some kind of greeting, Anthony thought – and the woman glanced over at the Jaffa standing beside his Master, and then looked at Anthony. Her eyes were beautiful, but cold and filled with scorn. For him, or maybe for Ball himself, Anthony didn't know. And didn't care. The woman's eyes narrowed, and she said something. Not to Anthony but to Ball. The Jaffa beside him punched him in the kidney without warning, causing Anthony to stumble and nearly fall, the breath knocked out of him by the sudden blow.

"Lower your eyes to your betters," the Jaffa told him as he pulled him to his feet and returned him to his rigid stance. Gasping as silently as he could to catch his breath and still manage to avoid another blow, Anthony looked away from the woman, but not before he saw the satisfaction in her expression as she moved to take a seat on one of the other couches in the room.

Bitch.

Before he could catch his breath, there was another commotion at the door, and another threesome walked in, this one led by a guy that Anthony could have sworn was Chinese. Followed by another Jaffa and another slave, Anthony managed to keep from staring at him (and avoided another painful lesson in proper slave etiquette) but was almost expecting the man's greeting to Ball to be Chinese. Instead it was another unnervingly deep voice, and another look of scorn at those gathered in the room thus far. As the Chinese (but apparently _not_ Chinese) man went over to claim yet another of the couches, Anthony realized that there was some kind of meeting going on.

He wondered why the Ghouls would hold meetings. Maybe they were catching up on old news? The cop said no. This wasn't a friendly meeting; he could feel the tension in the air and the wariness all of the Ghouls felt – even though Ball looked to be as cool as the other side of the pillow. The other two – his mind decided they needed names and the woman was instantly christened Bitchzilla and the Chinese man who wasn't Chinese was now firmly embedded in his mind as Thumbtack – were not all that thrilled to be there. Although they were showing no signs of it.

They were soon joined by others; Wishbone, Toothbrush and another strikingly beautiful woman he called Gator just because of the black widow smile she flashed at Ball when she'd greeted him. This many Ghouls in one room? It was enough to make Anthony wish he actually knew more of their language so he'd know what was being said.

OOOOOOOOO

"It's _Ba'al_."

The identification had been almost immediate once the first of the desert people had handed over her roughly drawn sketch to Jacob. When that one had been joined by another which had been similar enough to have been the same design (or decal, as they put it) Jacob had turned to his companions and announced their suspect.

O'Neill scowled.

"No way."

"His Jaffa, anyway," Jacob said, shrugging.

"Then most likely him," Carter replied. "I can't see them doing this without orders."

"Not just on a whim," Daniel agreed.

"I don't _like_ Ba'al," O'Neill said, annoyed.

"Look at the bright side, Jack," Daniel told him.

"Yeah? Which bright side is that?"

Daniel didn't exactly smile, but there was a gleam of anticipation in his expression.

"Ba'al ordered an attack on a _protected planet_. The Asgard aren't going to be very happy with him. Even after we get Officer Ruff back, Thor is almost certainly going to have to remind him not to overstep his boundaries."

"Probably with some kind of object lesson," Sam added.

O'Neill had to admit that he hadn't considered that. He looked at the papers in Jacob's hand.

"Well, let's get going, then."

After a few words of thanks to the desert people, the entire group vanished in bright lights.


	7. Chapter 7

Even with the contacts that the Tok'ra had, information wasn't always instantaneous. Ba'al was one of the major players with the system lords, but the Tok'ra weren't always keeping track of him and his movements. He was only one of many, after all, and they were shorthanded in the best of times. Not to mention, he was also one of the most mistrustful of the system lords and always careful of those who were around him. Which made it difficult to place an operate in his midst.

"It'll take time," Jacob explained before he left the SGC. "But we'll find out where he is."

"And let us know?" Daniel had asked, before Jack – who was visibly impatient and frustrated – had managed to say anything that might strain relations with the Tok'ra as well.

"Of course." He looked at O'Neill. "We'll _find_ this guy. Just give us a chance."

He'd been waiting this long, a few more days wouldn't make any difference, Jacob was sure. But he was smart enough to keep that thought to himself rather than share it with O'Neill, who would certainly have something to say about that.

"While we're waiting," Hammond said, clearly ready to get Jack's mind back on something a little less frustrating. "You have a mission."

A simple reconnaissance that would give them a nice distraction. O'Neill scowled, but didn't say anything, which was just as well, since it wasn't negotiable.

"What if we hear back from the Tok'ra before we-"

Hammond held up a hand to interrupt Carter.

"We'll call you back if Jacob gets back to us before you return."

That said, he led them all to the briefing room, calling on his aide to get the information ready for their briefing.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The meeting was dull. Especially when you couldn't really understand what was being said, Anthony decided. He watched as the Ghouls discussed something called a Tau'ri until they were all in a foul mood – and not just Bitchzilla. Ball's scowl had started early on, and deepened every time someone said anything, which was bad news for someone. Anthony just hoped that it wasn't him.

Just when he was pretty sure they were going to be there all day, and his back was aching so badly from being at attention like he was, they called for some kind of recess of some sort. He only knew because the Jaffa standing between him and Ball gestured to him imperiously to bring some food.

Anthony had been shown what to do, and threatened repeatedly with consequences in the even that he didn't do everything just right, so he was quick to head to the table, ignoring the way his calves and thighs seemed to cramp with every step. He loaded up a couple of heavy serving platters with an assortment of foods from the table – all of which smelled delicious compared to the slop that he'd been eating lately – and with Thumbtack's slave beside him to load separate plates with whatever delicacy the Ghoul they went to chose from the platters, Anthony served the afternoon meal to them, carefully avoiding looking at any one of them directly.

Which brought up an odd problem when he came to Bitchzilla and Gator – both of which were wearing dresses that showed a lot of cleavage. With his eyes averted downward, he couldn't help but get an eyeful, and that made him think of his wife, which in turn reminded him of just how long it had been since he'd seen her.

A wave of homesickness that took him by surprise and left his knees weak almost made him drop the trays he was holding – which almost certainly would have earned him a beating that probably would have been worse than any so far. Maybe worse than he could have survived. He swooned, but managed to keep from tripping himself or the other slave up, and even managed to keep the Ghouls from noticing. They didn't care about anyone so low as himself, at any rate, he knew. The _Jaffa_ noticed; his eyes narrowed in threat, but when Anthony managed to right himself without any help and continue what he'd been doing, the Jaffa turned back to his master, and Anthony breathed a silent sigh of relief.

OOOOOOOO

The planet was almost as dull as the one that the desert people lived on. Although there was only one sun – and six moons that they could see quite clearly in the middle of the afternoon – it was still fairly arid, with only a few stands of trees well off in the distance from the stargate. The rest of the land was covered in short, brown grass that looked like a badly kept football field. And just as flat.

"This is ridiculous…"

Carter looked over at O'Neill, sharing his frustration. It was clear they were being given busy work, and she had plenty that she could be doing – even while they waited for word from her father.

"This area looks deserted, O'Neill," Teal'c said from the other side of Daniel, who was standing beside Jack.

"Just like the original reconnaissance team reported," Jack said, looking around.

"If there's a secret society of warriors living here, they're obviously well trained in the art of Ninja," Daniel agreed, taking off his glasses and cleaning them.

Teal'c gave him a quizzical look.

"You know…? _Ninja vanish_…?"

The Jaffa didn't bat an eye, although he also didn't have a clue what Jackson was talking about. Nothing unusual there. Most of the time it was O'Neill who confused him, but Teal'c knew the rest of the Tau'ri were just as odd.

"What more is there to learn of the police officer abducted by Loki?" he asked, looking around but not even seeing anything to be suspicious of. The place was empty.

Jack took off his sunglasses and looked over at Daniel, who had read the file a bit more than O'Neill.

"He's in his mid thirties," Daniel told him. "Went into the Marine Corps after high school, got out and went to college, got married, joined the Sheriff's office and was apparently doing a good job, considering the letters of commendation in his file."

"He's married?" Sam asked, surprised.

Jack shook his head.

"He _was_. She died eight months after he vanished."

She stared at him, shocked and dismayed.

"You're sure?"

He just nodded.

"She was in a car accident," Daniel said, his voice as bleak as O'Neill's expression.

There was a long silence, punctuated only by the soft brush of a sudden breeze that blew up around them, and then O'Neill put his sunglasses back on and settled his pack on his back a little more securely.

"Come on. Let's get this done so we can go home."

Daniel wasn't the only one to notice that his voice was a little hoarse, but none of them mentioned it. They just followed him towards the nearest stand of trees.


	8. Chapter 8

Day two of the meeting – or summit was really the word that was coming to Anthony's mind as he watched it – was almost identical to day one. The only plus was that this time he'd been fed a lot more that morning. Probably to make sure that he didn't look hungry and embarrass ole Ball, he decided. Nothing worse than having sickly servants, after all, he decided.

Another interesting thing was that when the lunch recess came, the Ghouls sent everyone away – including the servants and the Jaffa. The Jaffa directed the servants to a room where they were told to wait until they were summoned and then left them alone and Anthony was shocked (and secretly relieved) to find that Gator's servant spoke something close enough to English that he could actually understand him.

The man introduced himself as Zef – which wasn't as bad as _Ball_ as far as Anthony was concerned – and made the acquaintance of those around him, but sat beside Anthony when they ate their meal and rested muscles aching from standing so long in one spot.

Zef had been with Gator for several years. Ever since he'd been passed up for the honor of being a host. Whatever _that_ had meant. Anthony didn't know and didn't really care, assuming that it had something to do with having one of the Ghouls over for some kind of extended stay of some sort. Zef had a longing in his voice when he spoke of it, but Anthony changed the subject to something more interesting – or at least less nauseating.

"What are they discussing?" he asked as he finished his meal quickly. Better to eat it quick than let someone decide there'd been a mistake and the servants weren't supposed to eat.

Zef looked over at the others, and at the door they'd been brought through, as though looking for some kind of trap. Seeing nothing that made him suspicious he lowered his voice a little.

"The _Tau'ri_."

"What's that?"

The other slave graced him with a look that was mixed with scorn and pity for his obvious lack of knowledge.

"Not a _what_, my barbarian friend. A _who_. A thorn in my mistress's side for several years now, and the enemy of all the gods."

Anthony scowled. He didn't like the reminder of the way the Ghouls proclaimed themselves to be gods, although he didn't mention it to Zef, who seemed more than a little enamored of Gator. Maybe he believed she truly was his god. Anthony was a bit more pragmatic about the whole thing, but he'd managed to avoid any situation thus far when it came to worshiping the Ghouls. One of the better advantages to not understanding a lot of what was being said around him; he could pretend ignorance.

Mistaking the scowl for a loathing of his mistress's enemy Zef continued, his voice even lower.

"Lord Ba'al has a plan to defeat them once and for all. My mistress and the others will be instrumental in its outcome."

He prattled on about some new kind of weapon that would turn a stargate (whatever _that_ was) against those using it, and how it would destroy an entire planet. Anthony wasn't paying any more attention than he had to to maintain politeness, though. True to his nature, he'd been watching those around him, and Thumbtack's slave was watching him just as closely, clearing listening to the conversation without appearing to. And doing it without Zef noticing.

The man caught Anthony watching him and turned away quickly, but too late, of course. The cop in Anthony was awake and watching, now, and whatever the guy had planned, it wasn't going to take Anthony by surprise – and he doubted it would take the Ghouls by surprise either.

Before Zef could finish extolling the many virtues of this wonder weapon – and Anthony had a feeling he was making a lot of it up – the door opened and they were imperiously summoned back to their duties. He sighed, but was in a way relieved. The meetings seemed to be coming to an end, so hopefully the others would all be gone before the day was out, and Anthony could get back to those more mundane duties that they normally set for him. This serving the Ghouls in numbers just plain sucked.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

It was a full two days before SG-1 managed to return to Earth. A full two days of absolutely nothing to see but sun, plains and some sparse stands of trees that were impressive enough in size but so few and far between that they looked lonely. Or maybe it was just the way O'Neill and the others – with the possible exception of Teal'c – felt as they were checking the place out. They didn't talk about the plight of Deputy Ruff, but Sam knew her CO was thinking about it, which made her think about him. Daniel had spent the entire two days more distracted than he normally was, and his expression was almost always a million miles away.

When they'd divided the entire area around the gate into a grid that would give future exploration teams a better way to check the place out, they headed for home, and all of them were aware that the Tok'ra must not have found out anything, or they would have been called back early.

"Dial it up, Daniel," Jack said, taking a final look around.

"With pleasure."

Jackson went over to the DHD and a moment later they were out of the sun and back in a familiar concrete bunker.

"Welcome back, SG-1," Hammond said, walking over to greet them.

"Any word from Jacob?" O'Neill asked, by way of greeting.

Hammond shook his head.

"Nothing yet. How was the mission?"

"Uneventful," Teal'c told him, sloughing off his pack.

"Boring," Daniel agreed.

"Get cleared through the infirmary and-"

The gate started dialing behind them, and all five of them went to the side quickly, SG-1 reaching for weapons and Hammond getting out of the way of the Marines who were responsible for the safety of the embarkation room.

_"We have a Tok'ra IDC, sir…"_ came the announcement over the intercom.

"Stand down," Hammond ordered the Marines, although he knew they wouldn't relax completely until they were certain all was really well.

Neither did SG-1. Daniel lowered his P90, but O'Neill, Carter and Teal'c were all clearly prepared to fight if it turned out to be some kind of trap.

When Jacob Carter emerged from the gate a moment later, however, Sam was the first to go greet him. He gave her a tired smile and a quick hug, but turned immediately to O'Neill.

"Did you find Ba'al?" Jack asked before he could say anything.

"He's called a summit of some of the more powerful system lords," Jacob answered, not at all put off by the abrupt question. He understood, after all. "We managed to infiltrate Yu and get an operative into the party, but we haven't heard back from him, and we probably won't until it's all over."

"Why didn't you mention that before?"

"Because I didn't know about the operative," he replied, a little annoyed, now. "It's not like they tell me _everything_, after all – and I've been busy with my own assignments."

Jack didn't apologize, but he did admit – to himself, at least – that that made complete sense. It wasn't like he knew what all the SG teams were up to at that very moment, really.

"So can we find this operative?" Daniel asked before O'Neill could.

Jacob shrugged, giving them a slightly apologetic look.

"We can't right now because of the security that will undoubtedly be placed around the summit. But if we had the help of the Asgard, we might be able to put ourselves in a close enough position that we can find Ba'al when the meeting is _over_. The only problem is we need to hurry. The Summit started two days ago, and there's no reason to believe it'll last much longer. Not with system lords in attendance."

Hammond looked over at O'Neill.

"Let's call the Asgard."

Jack nodded.

"Yes, sir."


	9. Chapter 9

It was gratifying – even to O'Neill – just how quickly Thor arrived in orbit once they sent out the call. Even better, the Asgard informed them that the rest of the Asgard had decided that Loki's erratic actions had more than called for them to allow Thor to assist them in any way necessary for as long as they required his assistance – provided it didn't interfere with the Protected Planet Treaty they had with the Goa'uld.

"Which it won't," Carter told O'Neill as they gathered some supplies for their newest mission, not at all upset to be going out again after just getting back. "Ba'al shouldn't even know we're there… not if we stay out of his way."

"I don't intend to announce myself," O'Neill replied.

They took mostly food – although they also loaded a pack with medical equipment and supplies that Officer Ruff might require if – when – they managed to find him and get him back. Clothing, mostly, but also some reminders of home; candy bars, a newspaper, a small supply of coffee (aside from what Daniel was already taking) a pack of cigarettes – just in case – and bottle of good scotch that they wrapped in the clothing to keep it from breaking.

Thor beamed SG-1 and Jacob up to his ship and the Tok'ra and the Asgard had a lengthy conversation about where best to wait out the meeting of the system lords, which was joined by O'Neill and the others as soon as they'd set their equipment down.

"We can't let them know we're there…" Jacob was saying. "Or we're going to put the operative at risk."

"It's not your operative I'm worried about, Jacob," O'Neill pointed out.

"You should be, Jack," Jacob told him. "If this meeting comes to a conclusion with any kind of pact between Ba'al and the others, we're going to want the information the operative can give us."

"Definitely," Daniel agreed.

O'Neill scowled, but shrugged.

"Fine. So we get your operative out, too."

It wasn't like he'd planned on _leaving_ the guy there, after all. He'd just wanted to make it clear to Jacob what their primary objective was in this mission. Jack wasn't stupid, after all. He knew what good intel could be worth.

"We know the general location of the summit," Jacob said, watching as Thor brought up a star map on his main view screen. It showed a small solar system with several planets that were in such a tight orbit around their sun it was a wonder none of them had collided. "Ba'al insisted on having it in his own territories, but there's no way he would have allowed potential enemies to be anywhere near his home system. Instead, they're somewhere around here, in orbit around one of these planets, most likely."

"Why not have it in the middle of nowhere?" Sam asked, curiously.

"He undoubtedly possess a weapon of some sort on one of the planets which is capable of destroying the ships of the other system lords," Teal'c said, looking at the map as well. "That would be a way to guarantee his own safety among his potential enemies while still allowing them to have their ships and Jaffa."

Jacob nodded his agreement.

"We are not even certain that it is Ba'al who holds the human you are looking for, O'Neill," Thor said.

"It was Ba'al who ordered the attack on the planet," Daniel said. "It's a safe bet he wouldn't have just given away that many useful slaves."

Which was a terrible way to think of Officer Ruff, but only added to the need to find him and get him back.

O'Neill nodded.

"Even if he doesn't have him, we'll have a chance at finding out where he is."

"How do you plan on doing that?" Jacob asked.

Jack looked at Thor.

"If we were close enough to scan Ba'al's ship could you find him?"

The Asgard shook his head.

"My sensors will not differentiate humans I have not programmed them to know. I would be able to tell you whether or not humans are on the vessel, but not _which_ humans they are."

"Not to mention Ba'al's not just going to sit still while we scan him," Carter pointed out.

"He will if he's in a discussion with Thor about attacking the protected planet…"

"So what?" Jacob asked. "We find every human on his ship and beam them out?"

"The beam will not work with his shields up," Thor said. "And it is unlikely he will drop them during any discussion with me."

"Good point," Daniel murmured, earning another scowl from O'Neill.

"We could catch one of his Jaffa and find out where the prisoners from the raid were taken…" Sam offered up.

"We can't catch one without beaming him over or something," Daniel said.

"Which cannot happen with his shields up," Thor repeated.

"Damn it," Jack snapped, more annoyed at the situation than any one person. "We have a freaking _Asgard_ ship. There must be something we can do."

Thor nodded, calm as ever.

"If I might interject a suggestion…"

They all looked over at him.

"If you infiltrate his ship, you can look for the human. Daniel Jackson speaks Goa'uld well enough to gather information from those around him."

"You mean have Daniel go alone?" Jack asked, scowling. He'd already considered that idea, and had immediately tossed it. There was no way he was going to do that. It was way too risky.

Sam looked equally doubtful.

"I don't know… it's a big risk."

Daniel looked surprised at the suggestion – _he_ hadn't even considered it. Not big shock there since he wasn't really a master at tactics and all. He pretty much left that up to Jack and Teal'c.

"How would I get aboard?" he asked, curiously. "I thought we-"

"It's too dangerous," O'Neill interrupted. "Let's think of another plan."

Thor watched him, expectantly.

Which made Jack frown.

"I'm thinking, all right?"


	10. Chapter 10

Not surprisingly, there weren't many plans that came to mind. Not that O'Neill didn't _try_ to think of one. The others watched as he struggled with several, working through them until he concluded it was even worse than sending Daniel off to almost certain death – or _worse_ – and then discarded each one.

"Jack…" Daniel said, after about ten minutes of almost complete silence. "It's not as bad as you think. I can blend in just fine with the Goa'uld."

O'Neill scowled at the interruption.

"I'm still thinking, Daniel."

"Every minute that passes is getting us closer to the end of this summit and we lose our chance to find Officer Ruff."

"If it hasn't already…" Carter added.

"How would we get him on the ship?" O'Neill asked Thor, pretty much expecting the answer to end the conversation once and for all.

"I could beam him over."

Jack was brought up short by the quick response, but Sam was quick to step in where he couldn't.

"Not with the shields up, though."

"If, indeed, the summit is being held on Ba'al's ship, there is every reason to believe that the shields will be lowered to allow the other system lords to arrive for the next part of the meeting," Teal'c replied.

"Assuming it's not over by the time we get this all settled," Daniel said, pointedly.

Thor looked at O'Neill – as did the others. It was his call, after all.

Jack looked at Daniel uncertainly.

"You know what you're risking…"

The archeologist nodded.

"It's our best shot to get this guy back, Jack. We have to at least _try_."

"And how do we get you back if _you're_ caught?"

"You'll think of something."

"For that matter," Sam added. "How do we get you back even if you _do_ find Officer Ruff?"

"If Daniel Jackson finds Officer Ruff, he can signal to me," Thor told them – mostly Daniel. "Or better yet, he can give the man a tracking transponder and I will beam both of them off the ship the moment the shields are lowered."

Carter looked at Jack to see his reaction to the plan, but it was Jacob who spoke up.

"What about my operative?"

"Your operative would have no reason to be implicated in the disappearance of an insignificant slave," Teal'c said. "And undoubtedly has already planned a way to escape the clutches of Yu once the summit is ended. To take him before he is ready could very well place him in more danger than leaving him in place."

Sam looked over at her father, who had to nod his agreement.

"He's probably right."

Daniel was watching O'Neill, expectantly, and Jack finally sighed and nodded.

"But you signal us if things look bad and we'll figure out a way to make Ba'al lower his shields so we can get you the hell out. You got that?"

"Yes."

"And you're sure you'll know this guy if you see him?"

"I've seen his file, Jack. I can do this."

O'Neill looked at Thor.

"We need to find Ba'al's ship."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony woke up stiff and sore. The day before had been long, and he hadn't had much sleep. What little he'd had was barely enough to do more than leave him more tired than he'd been before he'd laid down on his uncomfortable little cot – which was more comfortable than the floor and was a measure of comfort that was given to him because he of what he was doing just then. No doubt when the other Ghouls left, he'd be back on the floor with the smelly blankets in no time.

The door to the slave barracks opened, and all of them looked over. The Jaffa that entered was the one assigned to Ball directly, so the other slaves all looked over at Anthony, who hid a tired sigh and stood up before the Jaffa decided he had to come over and beat him to get him to wake up.

"Have breakfast and be in position as soon as you are presentable."

Ruff ran his hand along his chin, feeling stubble that was going to have to be shaved off before he entered the main meeting room. Ole Ball hated his slaves unshaven – the only thing Anthony actually agreed with. Unfortunately, the Jaffa didn't allow razors and foam for the slaves, and that left a very dull knife and coarse soap, which took just as much skin as stubble. By the time he was done, he felt like he'd been peeled.

His clothing had been washed – Ball wouldn't appreciate it if they were dirty or stained, of course – and he smoothed down his hair as well as he could, running his fingers through it to get it into some kind of order and wishing for Steve the Barber more than ever.

"Don't make them wait…" one of the slaves hissed, all of them clearly afraid that the Jaffa would return for him, and maybe take it out on the rest of them.

Anthony nodded, dressed as quickly as he could and then headed for the door.


	11. Chapter 11

It was almost ridiculously easy to find Ba'al's ship. True to Teal'c's predication, it was in orbit around one of the smaller moons in the system, and Thor's sensor's had no trouble locating the weapon that was making sure all the visiting system lords obeyed the rules of the summit.

"Will it pose a problem for us?" Jack asked, looking at the display screen on Thor's bridge.

"We will remain unseen by the weapon," Thor replied, looking down at his instruments.

"_And_ the other Goa'uld ships?" Daniel asked.

There were several of them in the area, after all.

"We'll have to uncloak to beam Daniel over and back, right?" Sam asked.

"We will be able to do so undetected," the Asgard assured them. "The bulk of the moon will hide my ship from theirs when it is visible, and I will be able to interfere with their sensors for the moment it takes to initiate the transfer."

"How will Daniel signal us?" O'Neill asked.

"I will give him a device," Thor answered, tapping a button on the side of his control panel. A small drawer opened, and Thor extracted two button-sized items from it. He put his hand out to Daniel, and the archeologist took them. "One for you. One for Officer Ruff, should you find him. When the other system lords are prepared to leave, make certain you are each holding one. I will beam you out then, while the shields to Ba'al's ship are down."

"And we all live happily ever after," Jack mumbled, sarcastically, although he didn't say it too loudly.

Daniel chose to ignore that.

"We need to get into position, then."

OOOOOOOOOO

"Get into position."

The command was emphasized with a blow to the kidney that Anthony hadn't even seen coming, and had no way of avoiding. He grunted in pain and would have fallen to his knees if not for a strong hand gripping his arm and holding him up. The Jaffa held him just long enough to make sure he wasn't going to fall and then pushed him towards the spot next to Ball's couch.

Anthony stumbled over and straightened up as well as he could around the cramping agony in his side.

At that moment a chime sounded throughout the room – and the entire ship. Anthony hadn't recognized it for what it was the first times he'd heard it, assuming it was some Ghoul thing or the other, but now he knew that it signaled the arrival of the other Ghouls. Soon the summit would begin. The last day of meetings, he hoped.

He straightened further, knowing that the Jaffa would correct his posture the hard way if he didn't, and then waited for the others to arrive.

OOOOOOOOOO

"The shields are down," Thor reported calmly. "The other ships are arriving."

Jack looked over at Daniel.

"It's not too late to change your mind… we could think of something else…"

Jackson gave him a helpless look.

"You tried that already, remember?" When Jack was obviously groping for the right words to say, Daniel's helpless expression changed to one that was obviously meant to look confident. "Don't worry, Jack. I'll be fine."

He looked over at Thor.

"Make sure to put me someplace that I won't be too out of place."

"I will, Daniel Jackson. Good luck."

An instant later, the archeologist vanished from the ship in a beam of soundless light.

Carter walked over and stood beside O'Neill, both of them looking at the empty space where he'd been standing.

"He'll be okay, sir."

She didn't sound all that sure, though, and her expression was just as concerned as he knew his own was.

OOOOOOOOO

Something was definitely wrong. Anthony spotted it immediately, and the Jaffa were right behind him in noticing. All of them stiffened as Bitchzilla walked into the room, her eyes literally flashing – which was about as unnerving as anything Anthony had ever seen, even in all his years of being a cop.

Ball had only just sat down, prepared to greet his guests, and now stood quickly, his Jaffa stepping forward in case it was some sort of an attack. Bitchzilla stopped in front of him, however, and made no move for a weapon.

"There is a traitor!" she said, probably not even noticing in her fury that she switched from the Ghoul language to the one they spoke to the Jaffa – one Anthony could somewhat understand. "The Tok'ra have planted an agent."

Anthony didn't know what a Tok'ra was, but the Jaffa and Ball obviously did, because the room became instantly charged. Ball looked at his Jaffa, and then at Anthony, who couldn't help but quail. Before Ball could say anything, Bitchzilla spoke up.

"Not yours," she told Ball. "Yu's."

Yous? What the hell did that mean? Yours and yous sure sounded a lot alike to Anthony, who had only heard that accent in movies about New York gangsters.

"Bring Lord Yu here as soon as his ship docks. Do not tell him what we have learned," Ball ordered his Jaffa, who bowed and left the room immediately.

Ball looked at Bitchzilla.

"How did you come by this information?"

She smiled, and it was just as evil as it had been the first time Anthony had seen her.

"The Tok'ra aren't the only ones who have informants."

Ball looked over at Anthony.

"Go. I require more guards. Summon them."

Not like he'd lower himself to that, after all, and the Jaffa that were left were clearly still guarding him in case it was a trick and Bitchzilla was going to try something. Anthony was more than glad to leave. So glad, in fact, that he even managed to make a low, polite bow before he turned and left.

Jaffa were all over the ship. It wouldn't be hard to find some.


	12. Chapter 12

It was clear to Daniel from the moment he materialized that Thor knew exactly what he'd been doing. The Asgard had beamed him into a small room – a closet of some sort. The _best_ thing would have been if there had been clothing in there that Daniel could change into. He knew he'd stick out like a sore thumb in the uniform he was wearing, after all. There wasn't, however. This storage room was apparently for such things as linens, towels and dishes of all sorts.

Daniel thought that sending him to the armory would have been second best, because he only had his own sidearm and the one Jack had handed to him right before Thor had beamed him away. Just in case, Jack had said – although he hadn't said in case of what.

He checked to make sure there wasn't anyone in the closet – which took all of twenty seconds – and then opened the door just a crack. The sound of footsteps was approaching, and he closed the door a little, until it was almost completely closed once more, but obviously tampered with.

The footsteps stopped outside the door, and it wooshed open, revealing a man about his own size who looked incredibly startled to find himself face to face with a stranger wearing an odd uniform which clearly wasn't part of Ba'al's. Daniel didn't give him time to be much more than startled. He knocked the man out with a move Jack had shown him years before – and probably didn't think Daniel ever practiced – and then quickly closed the door completely.

Ten minutes later, the door opened again, and this time Daniel walked out, dressed in the livery of one of Ba'al's personal valets. He tucked one Beretta into his pocket, and one into his waistband, and now, more than ready to blend in, went to have a look around.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony searched a grand total of four minutes before he found a Jaffa. Three of them, actually, standing in a tight group in the corridor that crossed the one that led to the conference room – or whatever Ball liked to call his throne room. They all frowned as Anthony deliberately approached them, and he, in turn, made sure they were wearing the proper stamp on their foreheads that labeled them as Ball's henchmen instead of one of the others'. They were, and before they could snap at him – or toss a blow or two his direction for the hell of it – Anthony bowed slightly.

"Lord Ball demands more guards," he said, carefully, making sure they could understand his terrible pronunciation. He _spoke_ their language even worse than he understood it – and that was saying something, really. He was also very careful to throw that whole 'lord' thing in before discussing Ball. The first – and _only_ time – he'd simply called him 'Ball', he'd been hit so hard by the closest Jaffa that his head had rang for days after, and a headache had plagued him for weeks.

"Where is he?" the tallest of the three asked, already moving.

"This way."

Anthony didn't want to give them the wrong name for the room. Not with talk of a traitor certain to get around. Instead, he simply headed back towards the room he'd left, and the Jaffa followed just long enough to be certain where he was leading them. Then they pushed him aside and moved ahead of him, clearly expecting trouble from the way they were holding the weapons they were now carrying.

Another Jaffa was leaving the room just as they entered, and there was a quick discussion that was way too swift for Anthony to keep up with. He simply tried to make himself invisible until they left and he could go find something else to do to keep out of trouble. True he was kind of curious what was going on, but definitely not enough to ask.

The Jaffa finished their discussion, and one glanced at Anthony for a moment.

"Yu will pay for this treachery," he said.

Anthony was startled by the threat – and the erroneous assumption that _he'd_ had something to do with it all – that he actually spoke up.

"_Me_? What did I-"

"Not _you_," one of the others said, interrupting with an annoyed expression. Of course, they always looked annoyed or constipated as far as Anthony was concerned, so that was nothing new. "Yu."

"Me?"

"Yu."

"_Lord_ Yu," the first Jaffa said, shaking his head in disbelief – and probably annoyance that he was actually having such a conversation with a slave. "Go and-"

"You mean his _name_ is You?" Anthony asked, finally figuring it out.

_That_ interruption earned him the blow that they hadn't given him earlier. He went spinning to the floor and landed hard, stunned so badly he almost blacked out. Another Jaffa kicked him.

"Go attend Lord Ba'al," he ordered him.

There was no way a Jaffa would be there without a slave to do whatever might be beneath him. Besides, they would be busy watching Yu and the others.

With a muffled groan and clutching his side, Anthony struggled painfully to his feet, and was promptly splattered with blood from his nose and a cut above his eye that had opened when he'd fallen. The Jaffa scowled, and graced him with another blow he couldn't dodge.

"Go find another slave to attend Lord Ba'al and clean yourself up."

Anthony dodged out of the way as well as he could and headed back down the corridor towards the slave barracks, furious and frustrated. It was _their_ fault he was bloodied, and they were pretty much acting like he'd done it on purpose just to annoy them! He wiped his eye to clear the blood that was dripping into it and turned into another corridor, just in time to run into into another slave, sending both of them crashing to the floor with the other one landing on him, painfully driving the air out of his lungs.

He lay still, trying to catch his breath, and the other man scrambled to his feet quickly.

"Sorry."

The odd accent in his voice made Anthony open his swollen eye and take a closer look just as Daniel realized that he recognized the man sprawled in the middle of the corridor.

"Officer Ruff?"

OOOOOOOOOO

Thor looked up from his control panel.

"Something is happening on Ba'al's ship."

Jack walked quickly over to take a look, but it was gibberish to him.

"What?"

The Asgard blinked.

"They have raised their shields."

"We knew they were going to, though," Sam said.

"They have not yet loaded all their supplies," Thor pointed out. He'd been watching the loading with the knowledge that it was probably a sign that the meetings were coming to a close.

"You think they've discovered Daniel?" O'Neill asked.

"Unlikely," Thor said, looking down once more at his readout. "The weapon on the moon surface is now pointed at one of the other system lords' ship."


	13. Chapter 13

Anthony stared up at the man, too surprised by the fact that the guy knew his name and too stunned by the crash that had knocked him to the floor to even move.

"Who are you?"

Daniel dropped to his side, wondering what he'd done to get so lucky to find Ruff as quickly as he had.

"Daniel Jackson. Did I hurt you?"

The blood was fresh, after all, and it wasn't much of an assumption to think he'd been the cause of it. Anthony was just relieved to be able to speak English. He brought his hand up to the cut above his eye once more.

"No. Where did you come from? Did they catch you, too?"

Which wouldn't explain how he knew his name, but Anthony wasn't exactly in top form just then.

"No." Daniel took a handkerchief from his pocket and pressed it against Officer Ruff's forehead, which was bleeding badly. "Actually, I'm here looking for you."

"_Yu_? He hasn't-" He cut himself off. "You mean _me_… not You." When the man gave him a concerned look, Anthony shook his head. "Never mind. You wouldn't understand if I tried to explain it. _I_ don't."

He levered his hand under himself and struggled to get to his feet.

"You're here for me?"

"Yes."

"How did you get past the Jaffa?"

"I haven't run into any of them, yet," Daniel told him. He pressed a small device into Anthony's bloody hand. "Take this."

"What is it?"

"Your ticket off this boat if we get separated." He reached into his pocket, and pulled out one of the Berettas. "You know how to use this, I assume?"

"Where did you get _that_?"

Anthony actually felt a flare of hope. A gun! He hadn't seen one in so long, but he knew there was no way he'd forgotten how to use it. He wiped the blood off his hand and took it, almost reverently, and tucked it into his waistband, pulling his tunic over it to conceal it.

"A friend gave it to me. Make sure we live to get it back to him, okay?"

"Yeah. What-"

"What are you doing?"

Both of them froze at the new voice, and turned to look down the hall. A Jaffa was walking towards them, looking at them suspiciously.

"I ran into him, my lord," Daniel said, smoothly, with a low bow, causing Anthony's jaw to drop. _His_ command of the Jaffa language was so good Anthony was sure the Jaffa wouldn't even hear an accent. "I was on my way to serve Lord Ba'al and we collided. It was entirely my fault."

The Jaffa looked at Anthony suspiciously, but the Sheriff's Deputy simply lowered his eyes and hoped that the bulge of the gun under his shirt went unnoticed amidst all the blood. Recognizing Anthony as the slave that had been standing at Ba'al's side for the past few days, the Jaffa nodded.

"Go clean up."

Anthony nodded, and didn't have any choice but to head down the corridor the way he'd been going before he literally ran into Daniel Jackson. He was careful not to look over at the other man, knowing it would make the Jaffa suspicious if he did – which was the last thing they needed. Of course, he also hadn't had a chance to find out what kind of plan – if _any_ – there was to get off the ship, but he knew what he looked like now, and figured he could always find him later. If they managed to survive.

He forced himself to walk slowly to the slave's barracks – no slave ever hurried, after all – but his mind was racing, now, with possibilities.

OOOOOOOOO

Daniel had no trouble convincing the Jaffa he was who he said he was. He was fluent in the language – as a personal servant would be – and was wearing the proper uniform. The Jaffa wouldn't know all of his Master's slaves on sight, which was something Daniel was counting on. In the end, he simply ordered him to have someone clean up the blood that was staining the floor of the corridor and get back to work, and then had just walked away.

The archeologist bowed low once more as he left, and then looked down the corridor the way Officer Ruff had disappeared, wondering if he dared go after him. Deciding that there was too much of a chance that the Jaffa might return, Daniel went off in search of someone to clean the blood on the floor – and hoped that Thor would get them off the ship as soon as possible.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Any sign of them?"

Thor looked over at O'Neill, who had been pacing the length of his bridge for the last hour.

"There is no indication that Daniel Jackson has been discovered, O'Neill."

"He's not going to be able to shoot a flare up when he finds Officer Ruff," Carter reminded her CO as gently as she could without sounding patronizing. "We'll just have to wait until it's time…"

Jack scowled.

"I know, Carter. It's just…"

She nodded.

"I'm worried about him, too, sir."

After all, Daniel wasn't military trained. She knew that if it were her or Teal'c in the same situation, Jack O'Neill would be concerned, but not pacing quite like this. Not that he liked Daniel better than he liked them, but they were trained to be sneaky and handle things like that. Daniel was trained to dig up rocks.

Who knew what kind of trouble he was getting himself into?


	14. Chapter 14

Anthony didn't go directly to the slave barracks. Realizing that he didn't have anything appropriate to wear while in the summit – and he knew he'd have to go back there to at least keep up appearances until whatever was going to happen to get him off the ship happened – so he would have to get another clean change of clothes from one of the supply closets. Which meant he'd have to find one of the slaves of a type that Daniel Jackson was impersonating.

It wasn't difficult. He ran into several Jaffa who demanded to know why he was alone on the ship, but his explanation was ready – and true – and most of them were aware that he'd been the slave at Ball's side for the entire summit. It wasn't impossible that someone had lost their temper and beaten him, so the injuries were far from suspicious. The Jaffa would simply send him on his way once more, telling him to hurry.

He found one after less than fifteen minutes of searching. The self-important little weasel was quick to scold him for managing to mess up his outfit so quickly, and nagged him about how hard it was to get blood out of the fabric – as if Anthony had bled on it on purpose just to annoy him. He sat him down and bandaged his head wound with a little water, a clean cloth and then a band-aid looking thing that hurt like hell coming off (this Anthony knew from experience) but would blend well enough with his skin that it wouldn't show up and annoy Ball or his guests with something so trivial as an injured slave.

There wasn't much he could do with the bruises on Anthony's face, and the Sheriff didn't even mention how bad his side hurt from being kicked so many times. _That_ might have required taking his shirt off and exposing the butt of the Beretta – something Anthony wasn't going to do. He hurriedly assured the man he'd take better care of the outfit he'd been given and made his escape as quickly as possible, citing the need to get back before Ball punished him further.

With his bundle of clothes under his arm, he went to the slave barracks and quickly changed, careful to make sure no one saw the weapon, but tucking it right back where it had been once he was in clean clothes. There was no way he was going to leave it in the barracks, after all. The Ghouls weren't going to stoop to searching a simple slave – especially one that hadn't caused any trouble in the last few days – and the Jaffa wouldn't want to show that they thought they had anything to be wary of when it came to a slave, so they would simply give him a stern glare for making them wait on him and tell him to get back into position.

Ignoring the aches, Anthony headed back to the main meeting room, wondering where Daniel Jackson was and how they were supposed to get together again without making the Jaffa suspicious. He reached under his shirt and felt for the small device the man had given him, making sure it hadn't slipped out of the only hiding place Anthony had for it. It wasn't like he had pockets or anything, and was afraid to lose it – even though he didn't have a clue what it was supposed to do.

Besides, the little doohickey had fit perfectly in his belly button.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Daniel had very little trouble finding someone to clean the blood on the floor. True to the outfit he was wearing, he waited until the job was completely done, knowing that if it wasn't done right, someone very well could get suspicious about the servant that didn't do his job properly and come looking for him.

Once that was done, he dismissed the people cleaning crew and tried to decide what to do now. Even though he'd told the Jaffa he had been on his way to serve Ba'al, there was really no way he could. The system lord would know who was supposed to be there and who wasn't – especially wearing the livery that Daniel was – and there was no way Daniel could slip past the Jaffa if he wasn't supposed to be there.

He thumbed the device Thor had given him. It didn't need to be activated as far as he knew. He was pretty sure the Asgard would have mentioned that. He sighed, looking around and wondering what he could do while waiting for Thor. It wasn't like he could just hang out in the corridor, after all, and if he were caught snooping around, they'd search him, find the gun and maybe the device, and know he didn't belong where he was.

If he had Sam's brains, he'd head over and find the engine room or something, to check it out. They didn't have a lot of opportunities to see the inner workings of a Goa'uld ship, after all. Being chased by Jaffa the few times that they had been on one made it hard for a person to stop and look around, after all. Daniel, however, could have been turned loose in the engine room – or whatever engineering was called there – and wouldn't have a clue what he was looking for. Instead, he turned and headed toward the direction Sheriff Ruff had come from when they'd crashed into each other.

He might be needed, after all, and was fairly certain he could come up with a reason to be close by if he needed to. He was pretty resourceful, after all, if he did say so himself.

OOOOOOOOO

"The other device is active."

Sam looked over at Thor, surprised.

"He found him already?"

"I did not say that," the Asgard corrected. "I merely said the device is active."

"Meaning Daniel gave it to someone."

"Or someone _took_ it from him," Jack said, darkly. "Maybe the Jaffa-"

"The device will only trigger for a human," Thor said.

"_And_ they're small enough that even if he had been caught, they wouldn't just find them," Sam added. "He must have found him."

O'Neill wasn't so quick to be optimistic, despite the fact that he wanted her to be right.

"So quickly?"

"He could have gotten lucky."

She looked over at Teal'c and her father, hoping one of them would put some opinion in, but the Jaffa couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound like wishful thinking. Jacob wasn't much more help, but he did try.

"Daniel's gotten lucky before, Jack. Who knows? He might have just run into the guy in the hallway or something."

Even Thor looked doubtful.

"As soon as the shields are lowered I will be able to beam them over."

"And until then?" Jack asked.

"We have to hope they stay out of trouble and away from the Jaffa and Goa'uld."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony bowed low as soon as the door swooshed open. The Jaffa looked over at him, but he gave them no reason to be annoyed or suspicious. As much as he hated doing it, acting like a perfect slave was the only way he was going to keep them from searching him, or worse, and he could handle doing it for a little while, he supposed.

What he hadn't realized was that their attention wasn't even close to being focused on him. The Ghouls were all looking at Thumbtack, who had his personal slave on his knees in front of him, arms tied firmly behind him and his face wearing an expression that was decidedly not subservient.

Anthony looked over at the Jaffa, questioning what he was supposed to do, and the Jaffa pointed to his normal position, which he took without hesitation. He didn't know what was going on, exactly, but he was certain that they had managed to find the spy.

Thumbtack looked furious, and Anthony was sure things were going to go from bad to _very_ bad for the man on his knees in front of the Ghoul.


	15. Chapter 15

Despite the movies and they way they portrayed police officers, Anthony hadn't actually seen a lot of interrogations. Certainly none like they showed in the movies or on TV with the bad guy sweating under a bright light, and a good cop bad cop routine going on in front of him as one tried to get his confidence and the other tried to intimidate him. Maybe the FBI or the CIA did it that way, but whenever they saw it on TV, he and his wife would always have a good chuckle at the producer's expense.

What he was witnessing now, however, was definitely an interrogation – and it was _nothing_ like he'd seen on TV.

Thumbtack – and now Anthony was pretty sure this guy was _You_ – was barking questions at the man on his knees in front of him while the others in the room, Jaffa and Ghoul alike, all watched impassively. The first time the man had spoken – and it had been a very short response that had earned him a kick to the stomach from Thumbtack's Jaffa – Anthony had been shocked to hear the hoarse, deep voice that clearly marked the spy as a Ghoul, too.

Probably he'd been sneaking around someone's territory trying to make a name for himself, Anthony decided. He couldn't think of any other reason the rest of the Ghouls would all be so furious – and they _definitely_ looked mad. Especially Bitchzilla and Ball.

Part of it was probably because the guy wasn't telling them anything. Anthony didn't have much of a grasp on the language, but all he heard was a lot of talk about something called a _Tok'ra_ and what had to be a lot of threats coming from You. None of which appeared to concern the spy, because _he_ wasn't talking. No matter how many blows landed, and how much blood was streaming out of the various cuts opened up by those blows, he took it as stoically as any Jaffa ever looked.

It was a lot harder for Anthony, who wasn't in the habit of watching someone take a beating like that. Especially someone who was tied and couldn't defend themselves. He tensed with every blow, and found himself biting his lower lip to keep from blurting out something that would probably put him in the same shoes as the spy.

It worked. Right up until You grew tired of threats and finally pulled out the big guns, so to speak. He snapped something in Ghoul that Anthony didn't recognize, and stood up, looming over the spy and looking at Ball, apparently for permission. Ball didn't hesitate. He nodded. You held up his right hand, which had an odd-looking glove on it, and Anthony sucked in a quiet gasp that he only managed to suppress at the last moment.

He'd seen the glove before. You wasn't the only one who had one. He knew Ball did. Ball had killed a Jaffa with it. With his hand, only it had something to do with the glove, and the Jaffa had screamed in agony as he died. It had been drawn out, and excruciating and one of the worst things Anthony had ever seen in his life.

The Jaffa standing beside him looked over sharply at the sound Anthony made, his expression plainly telling him to be silent. Anthony knew his face was pale, and probably that was normal, because after another glare, the Jaffa turned back to the scene in front of them.

Ball nodded, and You struck. Not a blow, because the gloved hand never actually touched the skin of the man kneeling in front of him, but an attack nonetheless. The man jerked, but never moved, held in place by whatever magic – or technology – was in the glove. His eyes widened and bulged slightly and his face contorted into an agonized mask. He bit down on what was probably a blood-curdling scream, but Anthony knew what it would have sounded like, and couldn't help but react.

_"No!"_

Every head turned his direction. He knew the instant it happened that he'd just done the unforgivable. Bad enough there was a spy in the place, but now there was a slave who had spoken up when he clearly should have kept his mouth shut. He just couldn't help himself. Protect _and Serve_ had been a part of him for almost half his life, and watching a man tortured to death in front of him wasn't something he could do.

The Jaffa beside him reached for him, and Anthony reacted instinctively. He pulled the Beretta from his waistband and fired, almost point-blank. The concussion was deafening in the relatively small space, and Anthony was stunned by the noise. Not as stunned as the Jaffa, who fell backward with a fair-sized hole in the middle of his forehead and never got up again.

Ball jumped to his feet, and at the same time every Jaffa in the room reached for their weapons. The slaves all dodged to the side, and the other Ghoul all stared, stunned at the sudden appearance of a weapon in a slave's hand.

OOOOOOOOOO

Daniel had made it most of the way to the room that he assumed would be used as a summit room by Ba'al before he was challenged. A Jaffa, looming almost as large as Teal'c and far more hostile, stopped him with a single hand on the chest as Daniel tried to bluff his way past.

"Where are _you_ going?"

Daniel had bowed, rubbing his chest in a manner that most slaves would at such rough treatment.

"Lord Ba'al requested another servant, my lord," he'd told him as humbly as he could. Daniel was very good at adapting his mannerisms to whatever the situation required of him.

"I heard nothing of such a request."

The Jaffa wasn't so much suspicious – what slave would want to work? – as he was annoyed. Probably, Daniel thought, he was annoyed that he'd been left out of the loop. Jaffa had a lot of pride, Daniel knew. Better to chop off their heads than make them feel they'd been belittled.

"No one wanted to bother you with something so trifling, I'm sure," Daniel replied, with an even deeper bow.

The Jaffa made a rumbling sound deep in his chest, but if it was agreement or more annoyance, the archeologist wasn't sure. The Jaffa finally nodded, however.

"Make it quick. Lord Ba'al is in a foul mood."

"Yes, my lord," Daniel said, bowing again. "I thank you for the advice."

The Jaffa waved him by and Daniel went, feeling like any minute the Jaffa was going to change his mind and check out his story. Only when he turned the corner in the corridor and couldn't feel those dark, dangerous eyes boring into the center of his back did he finally take a deep breath and feel a little more secure.

He'd fooled one, but could he fool enough to get closer?

As it turned out, the answer was yes.

Three more Jaffa challenged him. Two more allowed him by, but the third was in the process of calling to check on his story – which Daniel knew was going to have him in some deep water only moments later – when the quiet was suddenly shattered by a gunshot. The Jaffa grabbed for his staff weapon, and Daniel jumped, startled. None of the Goa'uld used weapons like his own people, and there was only one explanation for the shot. Officer Ruff had done something, or was in trouble. Or most likely, both.

The Jaffa started down the corridor, but Daniel pulled his Beretta and shot him. In the back and without warning, which made him feel guilty – even as he ran by – but the fewer Jaffa that he'd have to face later the better. He didn't know what trouble Officer Ruff was in, but it couldn't be good.

"Now would be a good time, Thor…" he muttered, as he kicked the staff weapon aside, and he headed into the open doorway that more shots were coming from.


	16. Chapter 16

Anthony wasn't stunned for long. The death of the Jaffa terrified him, because he knew he'd just signed his own death warrant by killing him, but the weapon in his hand wasn't empty and if he was going to die, then he had every intention of giving back a lot of what they'd been giving him since he'd been on the ship. He fired off a shot at Ball, knowing that he probably wasn't going to be able to do much good, but it did force the Ghoul to duck a bit, and then turned toward the Jaffa who were flanking Gator. The female Ghoul screeched in fury as one of the Jaffa went down, and Anthony heard some kind of energy charge right before something slammed into him from the side.

A blazing pain dropped him to the floor, but he held the Beretta like it was a lifeline, and took a shot at You. The Chinese looking Ghoul held his gloved hand out towards Anthony, clearing intending to finish him off the same way he'd killed the spy, but a shot sounded from out of nowhere and Anthony forced himself to roll over against the agony in his side, just in time to see Daniel Jackson come through the door with another gun in his hand.

The Jaffa all turned their weapons towards him, knowing him to be the greater threat since Anthony was on the floor, but the real danger was the spy, who launched himself from the floor and struck You, knocking him to the floor as well. The blow was a vicious one, and Anthony had a close up view when You's forehead opened and blood immediately poured down the side of the Ghoul's face.

You screamed in fury, and the spy was struck by some kind of energy bolt that materialized out of nowhere as far as Anthony could see. The man dropped immediately and was struck again. Unbelievably, he vanished into thin air.

"Anthony!"

Daniel was hard-pressed, and knew he didn't have a chance in hell of getting the two of them out of there. Already his gun was empty – he wasn't that good at managing his firing rate to save ammunition and had pretty much emptied his clip when he'd charged into the room. He'd seen the Jaffa shoot Anthony with a staff weapon, had seen the Deputy fall and knew he was badly injured. The thought of coming all this way to find him only to have him die now was infuriating, and the injustice of it made him struggle all the harder when the Jaffa suddenly turned on him with zats.

It wasn't any kind of contest at all. A shot struck Daniel, knocking him to the floor, stunned by the agony of the energy release, and while he didn't lose consciousness, Ba'al's voice was very far away when he ordered both of them to be bound and brought to him.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"There is a disturbance on Ba'al's ship," Thor reported, abruptly.

Jack had been looking at the view screen of the bridge at a heads up display that showed the ship in question drifting lazily in orbit above a tiny moon. Now he turned his head sharply.

"What kind of disturbance?"

"I am uncertain, O'Neill. My sensors indicate an increase in the security readiness on board the ship, they will not tell me why, however."

"They probably caught Daniel," Jack muttered, gloomily.

"Or something could have happened with one of the other system lords," Teal'c said.

"They could have caught the Tok'ra operative," Carter said with an apologetic look towards her father. "That would increase the security levels, I imagine."

"We need to get Daniel out of there," O'Neill said.

"I will transport him as soon as the shields are lowered," Thor assured him.

"And the other signal as well," Sam reminded him.

"Yes."

Now they were all looking at the ship, all of them wondering what – if anything – had gone wrong.

OOOOOOOOO

Daniel was awake when they tied him. There was no escape from the rough handling as he was brought before Ba'al with his hands behind his back so tightly that he almost immediately lost all feeling in them. He was forced to his knees in front of the low-slung couch that almost looked like a throne, and a moment later Officer Ruff was thrown to the floor beside him. The Deputy was bleeding and battered and the staff wound in his side was raw and terrible. He wasn't moving, but he was clearly alive, because he groaned when he hit the floor.

Ba'al wasn't the only system lord in attendance, of course. Yu, Hathor and a couple of others that Daniel hadn't met, yet, were also there, all watching but deferring to Ba'al – presumably because it was his ship.

Ba'al looked down on him with a mixture of annoyance and smug amusement. He was completely at his mercy, and the system lord knew it.

"Daniel Jackson…" he said, his voice guttural and harsh. "We meet again."

Daniel couldn't think of anything to respond with, so he didn't say anything, certain that whatever he said was just going to get him killed that much sooner. He was wracking his brain, trying to figure out how to get Ba'al to lower his shields without giving away the fact that Thor was hovering, waiting for just that. It was the only thing was going to save Officer Ruff, Daniel was sure – and even then he wasn't sure that even if Thor beamed them off right away the Deputy was going to live.

Ba'al waited a moment for a reply, but when none was forthcoming, he gave a slight frown.

"Why are you on my ship, Jackson? Are you working with the Tok'ra?"

"Your spy is dead," Yu added.

Daniel put on the best puzzled expression he could under the circumstances.

"The Tok'ra?"

Ba'al scowled.

"Don't play stupid. Why are you here?"

"We heard from Lord Yu here that you were having a meeting," Daniel lied. "And decided we'd be better off finding out what was going on ourselves, without waiting for a report from him."

Yu jumped to his feet, furious.

"You _lie_!"

"Do I?" The archeologist asked, hoping that this ploy would work since it was all he could think of. He looked over at Ba'al. "Who brought the spy onto your ship?"

Ba'al looked back at Jackson with his expression burning, but the other system lords were looking at Yu with open hostility and suspicion. None of _them_ had mentioned that the Tok'ra spy had been in Yu's party, after all. This gave Daniel's story credence where before there was only amusement that the Tau'ri was trying to save himself at the expense of a lie.

"Where is Jack O'Neill?" asked Ba'al, ignoring Yu for the moment. O'Neill was a greater threat just then.

Daniel shook his head – and it hurt.

"He's not here. We-"

"You _are_ lying to me," Ba'al said, calmly. He looked at one of the Jaffa looming over Daniel and Ruff, and gestured with his chin. The Jaffa kicked Daniel in the side. Hard.

Completely off balance, the archeologist fell sideways into Ruff, who gasped in pain, but opened his eyes – and probably wished that he hadn't.

"Where's O'Neill?" Ba'al asked again.

"You assured us this summit would be secure," one of the system lords said to Ba'al. Clearly he was a bit nervous at the fact that there was someone missing from the equation that Ba'al obviously wanted to find. Which meant there was a threat that was – as yet – unseen.

"It is," Ba'al told him.

"I have two Jaffa dead," the system lord reminded him, pointedly.

Which only made Ba'al frown. But the other system lords were looking just as doubtful.

"I want to return to my ship," one said.

"As soon as I've dealt with this," Ba'al told her, already turning back to Daniel.

"Am I a prisoner?" she asked, her eyes narrowing. The Jaffa that stood at her side tensed.

Ba'al turned back, alerted by the tone of her voice.

"Of course not."

"Then allow me to send for more Jaffa."

"You don't need more Jaffa. My ship is secure." Now Ba'al sounded angry, but Daniel was just hoping to play for more time. There was nothing more suspicious than a system lord, and no one more paranoid than a gathering of them. He was hoping it would work to his advantage.

"I can _see_ how secure your ship is," she said, scornfully.

Ba'al looked at Daniel, who kept his face carefully neutral, as if none of this mattered to him.

"Fine. Send for a small contingent of Jaffa _only_."

It was a lot harder to pretend to be a Jaffa than it was to pretend to be a slave, after all. The system lords all filed out of the room – except for Yu – and Ba'al turned back to his prisoners.

"I'll ask you one more time before I kill you," he said. "Where is Jack O'Neill?"

OOOOOOOOOO

"The shields are down," Thor said, calmly, his long fingers working the controls on his control panel.

"Bring him back," Jack snapped.

"I am already doing so."

Sam walked over to stand beside O'Neill, and Teal'c moved from the center of the bridge to watch Thor. A moment later two forms appeared in the middle of the bridge, both tied, and both bleeding.

Daniel looked up and then rolled over, trying to get his arms in a more comfortable position. There was a welt forming above his right eye, his face was bruised and bloody and his glasses were missing, but there was no mistaking the relief in his expression.

"Boy am I glad to see you…"


	17. Chapter 17

Jack pulled his knife, kneeling by Daniel as he did so. Even as he did Carter hurried over to the silent form beside him. Anthony groaned when she sliced the ropes that were holding his hands so tightly, but Sam was quick to reassure, her hand resting gently just above the seared flesh on his side.

"Easy, Officer Ruff. You're safe."

He moved his arms a little, but the motion obviously hurt worse than the position did, because he stopped almost immediately, turned his head a little and opened his eyes, looking up at her. His face was a mess of blood, bruises and swelling, but he seemed to be able to focus on her – even though he looked dazed.

"Who…?"

It was a faint whisper, and all he could manage. But it was enough.

"I'm Major Samantha Carter," she told him. "United States Air Force."

He closed his eyes again, but she could feel him relax just a little under her hand. Jacob knelt down beside her, looking him over with a critical eye as Teal'c brought over his pack, which contained a first aid kit.

"He is badly injured…"

"What happened, Daniel?" O'Neill asked as his friend managed to pull himself into a sitting position on the floor, rubbing his wrists, which were chaffed from the tight bonds.

Daniel gave them a quick report on the events that had happened on Ba'al's ship, even though he couldn't tell them why the gunfight in the summit room had broken out in the first place, since he hadn't been there. They listened while watching Carter and Jacob give Officer Ruff a shot of morphine for the pain that he had to be in, put a field dressing on the staff weapon wound and checked him for other serious injuries.

"Your operative is dead, Jacob," Daniel told him as gently as he could. "Yu was pretty smug about the whole thing."

"You're sure?"

Daniel nodded.

"I saw it."

"Damn."

Jacob turned his attention back to working on Ruff. The Tok'ra had a lot of experience with serious wounds, even though most of the time their symbiotes could handle the healing.

"Did you find out anything about the meeting?" O'Neill asked. "Like what they're planning?"

Daniel shook his head, wincing as Teal'c applied some antibiotic spray to the cut above his eye.

"I didn't get that close before the shooting started." He looked over at Ruff, who hadn't opened his eyes or made a sound since Carter had introduced herself. "_He_ might know, though. He was in the room."

Jack frowned.

"Would they say anything in front of him?"

"Why not?"

O'Neill looked over at Teal'c for confirmation. Daniel knew a fair bit about the Goa'uld, but Teal'c knew far more. The Jaffa nodded.

"He was probably engaged as a servant to attend to Ba'al during the summit, O'Neill. The Goa'uld do not even notice their slaves. It is beneath them to do so."

"I'll bet they noticed when he pulled out a gun and started _shooting_ at them," Sam replied, proving that she was listening, even as she and her father rolled Ruff over to get a better look at the rest of him.

"We need to get him back to the SGC, Thor," Jack told the little Asgard. "As fast as possible."

"We are already on the way, O'Neill." The Asgard watched as Jacob pulled an emergency blanket from Sam's pack and covered Ruff with it while Carter rested his head on Daniel's pack.

"He's in shock, Jack," Jacob told him. "A little higher and that staff wound would have killed him instantly. Broken bones, bruises and probably more than one bad beating… we should have brought a doctor."

O'Neill nodded.

"We'll just have to do the best we can for now."

He knelt down beside the Deputy and looked for a place to tap his face that wasn't bruised. He certainly wasn't going to try to shake him to see how alert they could get him.

"Deputy Ruff?" he said, softly, tapping the guy's cheek with a light finger. "Hey, _Anthony_. Wake up for a minute, buddy."

Whether it was the tapping or the fact that someone called him by name, Jack didn't know, but Officer Ruff's eyes opened a little and he tried to focus once more on the people around him.

"We're heading back to Earth," O'Neill told the deputy. "_You_ need to stick with us. Okay? Can you do that?"

Ruff tried to nod and winced.

"Yeah."

"Good."

He tried to swallow, and choked on blood instead, forcing Sam to bring him into a more upright position to clear his airway if she could. Trembling, he leaned heavily against her, blood soaking the bandage on his side and pooling on Thor's deck.

"How…" he tried to clear his throat, and Jack frowned.

"Don't try to talk right now, okay? Just stay awake. We're not far from a very good doctor. We'll get you fixed up in no time."

Anthony closed his eyes again, the light on the bridge too bright for him to be able to keep them open long.

"Okay…"

He drifted off, but Jacob and Carter both kept careful track of his vitals, and Jack turned his attention to Daniel, who looked like he'd been beat up.

"Are you going to be okay?"

The archeologist took a deep breath and nodded. Jack decided he looked extremely satisfied, and while he wouldn't admit it aloud, O'Neill was proud of him.

"I lost your gun."

There was only a moment of silence before the Colonel shrugged.

"It's just a gun. I'll get another one."

Good archeologists were a lot harder to replace, after all.


	18. Chapter 18

"How's he doing?" Jack asked, softly, coming over to check on Ruff after getting the worst of Daniel's cuts covered in antibiotic ointment to keep them from infecting.

Jacob rested his hand on Ruff's forehead and the deputy groaned softly in his sleep, no doubt in a lot of discomfort despite the shot he'd been given, and looked at Sam.

"Do you still have that healing device at the SGC?"

She nodded.

"When we get there, I'll see what I can do. We just have to keep him alive that long."

O'Neill knelt down beside Sam. The deputy was pale and sweating profusely, but Jack had already spoken to him once, and had made a snap judgment about the man from that one conversation.

"He'll get there."

"We will be there in a few minutes, O'Neill," Thor assured him."

Teal'c had taken O'Neill's spot by Daniel, although he didn't really need anyone to watch him for signs of shock. It was a sound beating, but Daniel had suffered through a lot more than that and survived.

"One has to wonder how Lord Ba'al is responding to having his prisoners stolen out from under his eyes."

Daniel smiled, wincing when it pulled his sore cheek muscles.

"I'm pretty sure he's not a happy camper."

"Indeed."

OOOOOOOOOO

"This is an _outrage_."

Ba'al threw a dangerous look over at Yu, who had spoken.

"I remind you, I'm not the one who had a spy in their entourage."

"No," one of the other system lords said, "You are the one who has armed slaves running around your ship freely."

Now Ba'al's glare was for everyone – most noticeably the Jaffa who was standing in for his now dead First Prime.

"I'll look into that immediately, I assure you. This will not go unpunished."

Not that he cared about the loss of a Jaffa, but to be attacked in his own summit by an armed slave was simply unthinkable, and a loss of face that made Ba'al so furious he was hard-pressed to keep it hidden from the others. There would definitely be a thorough investigation when the other system lords were gone.

"What of the Tau'ri?" Hathor asked. "They clearly had something to do with this, otherwise Daniel Jackson would not have been involved."

Ba'al waved his hand dismissively.

"The Tau'ri will not be a problem for much longer."

He pulled the weapon out of his robes and looked down at it, the metal dully gleaming in the light coming from the room. He'd seen many members of the Tau'ri away teams carrying and using these weapons, but this was the first time he'd actually seen one so close. He wasn't impressed.

"So we still go ahead with the plan?" Yu asked.

Ba'al turned to him.

"The spy you brought among us is dead. Nothing has changed."

Yu wasn't able to hide his annoyance at the reminder of his own failure – which was exactly what Ba'al intended.

"This meeting is over, then?"

"Nearly."

There were a few other things to discuss, after all.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony hovered in a pain-filled haze of red. He knew that the people around him had given him something for the pain, he'd felt the agony fade just enough that he could at least attempt to pull his thoughts together, but he couldn't really bring himself to do anything more than lay still and try to stay awake enough to know whether he was really safe, or it was just a temporary thing.

It seemed too much to hope for that he was actually going to be taken home. After God only knew how long he'd been gone, he'd pretty much given up all hope of seeing Colorado – and his wife – ever again. He didn't really dare to hope for it now, either. Something would probably happen to screw it up, and this time he knew if it did he wasn't going to survive to see home again, anyway. He'd never hurt so badly before. Never-

The pity party was interrupted by someone hovering over him, touching his cheek. He forced his eyes open and saw the blonde woman looking down at him.

"We're going to move you in a moment, Officer Ruff. Stay with us, okay?"

He could see the concern in her very expressive eyes, and he figured she meant that it was going to hurt. He could have cried, because he already hurt so bad he wanted to beg them to just leave him alone and let him stay still. He didn't, though. He simply nodded, which hurt, too.

"'kay…"

He closed his eyes, and felt someone – presumably her – take his hand.

"We're going to get you through this, Officer Ruff…" he heard her say, gently.

He tried to squeeze her hand, to tell her that she didn't have to worry about him. He had a wife; _she'd_ do plenty of worrying once she heard. It was too much to say, though, with a throat and mouth gone dry as the Sahara. He settled for another nod, instead.

"'kay…"

OOOOOOOOOO

Carter looked over at Daniel, who had scrambled to his feet the moment Thor told them they were approaching Earth.

"We can't beam him directly to the infirmary, the room's too cluttered. See if you can get Janet to meet us in the gate room."

She had her hands full with Officer Ruff, and needed to focus on him just then.

Daniel nodded, but it was Teal'c who actually called the SGC. Daniel didn't have a radio on him, after all – and it probably hurt to talk with his lip busted up like it was.

The deputy stirred at the sound of Teal'c's deep voice, and turned his head, opening his eyes. The Jaffa was looking at him as he was speaking to Hammond on the radio, and they all saw his gaze go up to the seal on his forehead. Not surprisingly, he panicked almost immediately.

Sam felt it at the same time O'Neill saw it. Both of them reached for Ruff, pressing him down as he tried to get up, all pain forgotten just then.

"_Easy_!" Jack told him, trying very hard to keep from hurting him – or letting him hurt himself. "He's a friend!"

"He's a _Jaffa_…" Ruff said, struggling weakly and trying to break free. It was obvious he wasn't ready to lie down and die just yet – which was a good thing as far as Jack was concerned. Just not so good just then.

O'Neill draped himself over the deputy, using his weight to hold the man down while Carter kept hold of his hand and blocked his view of Teal'c, cursing herself for not thinking about telling the big Jaffa to stay out of sight. She also moved to position herself to block Thor from Ruff's line of sight as well. Who knew what the man would think if he saw an Asgard as well?

"Tell them to hurry up, Teal'c!" O'Neill yelled, just as they all felt themselves dissolving.


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's Note: This chapter might be boring. Sorry, but I need to get the medical aspect out of the way :)_

OOOOOOOOOO

They materialized in the embarkation room, and Janet Fraiser was beside them almost before they were completely there. She had an entire team of medics behind her but both O'Neill and Carter were still holding a very panicked deputy sheriff down and they couldn't move to allow anyone else to help.

"What's going on?" Janet asked, coming over and dropping a med kit beside O'Neill.

"He saw Teal'c," Jack told her. "Got something to put him out?"

Fraiser was already ahead of him. With an expert hand she reached into the bag she'd dumped on the floor beside them and grabbed a syringe, while at the same time resting her knee on Ruff's forearm to hold his arm as still as she could.

The deputy was experienced enough in controlling a resisting person to figure out the danger immediately, and his struggling increased, despite the fact that the staff wound in his side had been torn open and was now bleeding freely.

"_No!"_

Fraiser tore the cap of the syringe off with her teeth and waited a moment, all her weight on the knee she was resting on Ruff. He twisted and bucked, trying to get O'Neill off his chest while at the same time trying to dislodge the doctor, and if he'd been in better shape it might have worked. As it was, however, he was malnourished and battered, and hardly in peak performance. He didn't stop struggling, but he couldn't get the arm to move, and Fraiser saw her opening and took it, plunging the needle into his bicep.

The deputy felt it, and looked up at her, his eyes bright with terror and helplessness.

"No…"

This time it was weak, and he stopped struggling under them. Janet tossed the syringe and took his hand with one hand and rested her other palm against his cheek.

"It's okay, Officer Ruff. We're going to help you."

He shook his head and closed his eyes.

"No…"

Carter and O'Neill both waited until the tenseness had completely drained from his body before they stopped holding him down, but by then Janet Fraiser already had a blood pressure cup on one arm and was checking his eyes for any sign of an adverse reaction to the injection she'd just administered.

"Is he going to be okay?" Daniel asked, concerned.

"It's just a sedative, Daniel," Janet told him, distracted. "It won't hurt him."

Jack and Sam moved out of the way of the other medics and stood beside Teal'c and Jacob. The Tok'ra looked a bit shaken by the scene, but his voice was steady when he spoke.

"Go get that hand device, Sammy," Jacob said. "Let's see if we can get Officer Ruff on his feet a little quicker."

Or at least help him get rid of the pain so he'd be able to focus a little more clearly on what was going on around him. No doubt, then, he'd understand they were trying to _help_ him.

Carter looked over at Janet to make sure she didn't have an issue with her dad helping, but the doctor nodded. She was all for getting rid of injuries in any way they could. The sooner the better in this case. When Fraiser didn't object, Carter nodded.

"I'll meet you in the infirmary."

Janet nodded and watched as a couple of sturdy medics picked Officer Ruff up and put him on the gurney. The deputy wasn't struggling, now. He had opened his eyes, however, and was watching them. One of the medics strapped him into place to keep him from falling, and again O'Neill could see panic rising in his expression as he turned his head a little and saw Teal'c. This time, however, he didn't struggle. Defeated by numbers, pain and the sedative that Fraiser had given him, Officer Ruff could only watch as they turned and wheeled him out of the room.

Jack wondered if Ruff had been awake like that when Loki had abducted him, too.

OOOOOOOOO

Anthony had struggled as much as he could. He'd fought them off as well as he was able, and only when the woman in the lab jacket – _presumably_ a doctor of some kind, but he wasn't going to assume anything just then – had given him the shot had he really felt that he was going to die. Up until then, it had been him against other people. A _lot_ of them, yes – he could see more standing back and watching and knew that they'd join in the fray if they were needed – but he could handle _people_. Whatever drug she'd injected into his arm was another matter entirely.

He couldn't fight the medication. If it were a lethal dose of something, he'd have no chance of getting away from it. If it made him into a vegetable, well, there really wasn't anything he could do about that, either. He couldn't just close his eyes and let it happen, though, as much as he wanted to.

He turned as he heard someone ask if he was going to be okay, and even in the haze of whatever she'd given him he'd been so glad to hear English, still. If he was going to die, at least he'd understand what was going on around him for a change. He wasn't sure he believed her when she'd told whoever it was that it was a sedative and he'd be fine. After all, the Area-51 looking alien had used a sedative of some kind on him as well, and look where that had gotten him.

He didn't resist as they lifted him up onto the gurney, but he did panic a bit when he felt someone strapping him onto it. If they were going to do something to him, now would be the time. He turned his head to look around, to see what they might have planned, and he saw the Jaffa once more. Standing beside one of the humans and watching him with absolutely no expression, _he_ was proof that they weren't there to help him. He didn't know what they were going to do, but it couldn't be good.

As they started pushing the gurney he was on out of the room and down a corridor the doctor walked beside him, her expression worried while she kept fiddling with something he couldn't see. He couldn't tell what it was, but he felt the sting of another needle and wondered if she'd given him another dose of whatever it had been the first time around. When he turned to look, however, he saw that she had started an IV line.

"Don't worry, Officer Ruff," he heard her say – and he wondered how anyone with that kind of bedside manner could be working with the Ghoul and Jaffa. "We're going to get you on your feet in no time."

He shook his head, and had to close his eyes because the lights overhead added to the motion of the gurney – or maybe whatever she'd given him – were beginning to make him feel sick. He didn't want her reassurances. If she wanted to make him feel better, she could untie him and let him go. That would make him feel better. For that matter, he wouldn't mind having that gun back, either.

He felt her hand on his chest, but didn't open his eyes until they stopped moving him and had transferred him onto a much softer surface. It actually felt like a bed. Surprised, he opened his eyes, and now when he looked around it was just the doctor and an older guy that he hadn't seen before.

"Relax, Officer Ruff," the doctor told him again. Like telling him over and over was going to make him relax?

He tried to move his arm and found that someone had strapped it to the railing of the bed that he was lying in.

"You're not a prisoner," the doctor said as he struggled half-heartedly to get it free. His other arm was strapped in as well, although neither bond was all that tight. They were tight enough to keep him from moving, though. "It's just to keep you from hurting yourself."

"Sorry it took me so long."

He turned at the voice and saw the blonde woman once more. She smiled down at him as she handed something to the man, who thanked her and called her Sammy. Anthony had almost started to relax when he saw the man put the object on his hand like some kind of glove.

"Don't…"

He knew what that was.

"Relax, Officer Ruff," the doctor repeated. "We're not going to hurt you."

The man leaned over, his hand extended, the glove practically glowing as he held it over his chest.

Sam frowned at the expression on his face and the way he trembled as he tried to pull away from the glove her father was wearing.

"Wait, dad."

She leaned over, her hand resting lightly on the deputy's forhead.

"It's not what you think, Officer Ruff. It's going to heal you, not hurt you."

The police officer just shook his head, and Sam understood. He didn't have all that much reason to believe or trust her and every reason _not_ to. She gave him a sad smile, her hand still on his forehead, which was clammy and sweaty, and looked over at Fraiser.

"Can you put him out?" she asked her friend. "It'd probably be better..."

Janet nodded. There was no way she could miss the fact that his blood pressure and heart rate were soaring - and she was sure it had nothing to do with his injuries. She reached for another syringe and looked down at her patient.

"This won't hurt a bit."

He'd heard that before, though, and didn't believe her. The Jaffa loved to dole out pain, and he knew the Ghoul did as well. A moment later, however, he felt an incredible lethargy overcome him and closed his eyes, unable to keep them open. With a sigh, he lost consciousness.

The three watched as he finally started to completely relax, and Janet nodded over at Jacob.

"It should be all right now."


	20. Chapter 20

Hammond and the others were waiting in the briefing room when Fraiser walked in with Carter and Jacob.

"How is he, doctor?"

Fraiser had a newly created medical file with her, but she didn't need to look at it. She pretty much had the thing memorized.

"The staff wound was the most serious. Jacob here managed to heal most of the damage, though. X-rays revealed that he has several half-healed breaks, a lot of bruising – much of it bone deep – and every indication of a concussion." She shook her head. "He's lucky to be alive, I think."

"The Goa'uld are not known for gentleness," Teal'c pointed out.

Janet nodded, handing the file to Hammond before she went to sit down.

"So I see."

"Is he awake?"

She shook her head.

"Not yet, sir. It won't be long, I imagine. The sedative I gave him was just strong enough to knock him out. It won't keep him down long."

"What are you going to do about him, George?" Jacob asked, curiously. "He knows a lot more than the average cop does about the SGC."

Hammond frowned.

"I'm not sure, yet, Jacob." He didn't even want to think about that just then. It was too big of a headache, and something he hadn't really considered. "What did we find out about Ba'al's summit?"

Jacob shook his head.

"Nothing, I'm afraid."

"The Tok'ra operative was killed by Yu," Daniel reported. The archeologist looked a little like a raccoon with both of his eyes blackened, but Fraiser's medics had done a good job of keeping the swelling down and had closed the cut above his eye with a neat line of well placed stitches. "He didn't have a chance to report to anyone."

"Teal'c thinks it's always possible that Officer Ruff might have heard something," O'Neill added, looking at the Jaffa for support.

Teal'c nodded.

"It _is_ possible. Slaves are rarely even noticed by the Goa'uld."

"Even during a meeting like the one they were having?" Sam asked.

"Even then."

Huh.

"So we ask him what he might know?" Jacob asked, shaking his head. "He probably doesn't even know what was being said. One of the reasons that many slaves are ignored, as Teal'c said. They don't know what's being said and the system lords don't need to worry about them repeating anything."

Daniel shrugged.

"There's only one way to find out."

He looked over at Hammond – as did everyone else – and the general nodded.

"As soon as he wakes up find out what he knows."

O'Neill nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"We'll want to keep _Teal'c_ away, however," Sam said, giving the Jaffa an apologetic look. He wasn't offended, however. In fact, he nodded his own agreement.

"Indeed. My presence is most disturbing to him, and I would not have him hurt himself further."

Hammond stood up.

"Do it however you see best, Colonel," he told O'Neill. "And let me know what you find out."

"Yes, sir."

The rest of them stood as well, and Jack looked at Daniel.

"You know him best."

The archeologist started to deny that, but out of all of them he probably _did_ know Officer Ruff the best. He'd studied the file before they'd gone to search for him, and he'd been the only one to talk to him without Ruff being hurt or in a panic, which might make it easier to question him about what he might know. So instead of arguing, he simply nodded.

"You want me to ask him?"

"Would you mind?"

"No." Daniel looked at Fraiser. "How long until he wakes up?"

She shrugged, her glance casually checking the line of stitches above his eye since she hadn't been the one to put them in.

"Probably within the hour. It just depends on him."

OOOOOOOOOO

Anthony woke to the completely unfamiliar sensation of being warm and having a soft surface under him. If he didn't know better, he thought, dazed, he'd have sworn it was a bed. A nice bed with an actual mattress, and blankets both under him _and_ covering him. He sighed, sinking into the sensation while trying very hard not to wake entirely. It was a great dream and not one he wanted to wake up from any time soon. Any minute now he'd be kicked or shaken rudely awake and he wasn't in any hurry to start another day.

The sound of something beeping close at hand caught his attention. It was a fairly steady noise, pretty much the same as the pounding that was starting in his head as he drifted closer to waking despite his every effort not to. The more he considered it, the more he decided that the beeping was exactly in sync with his heartbeat. Which was just plain odd, really.

Odd enough that it woke him more.

He opened his eyes and winced slightly at the bright lights above him. Regular florescent lights with panels and tiles around them. A regular ceiling. It wasn't something he'd ever seen on Ball's ship. For that matter, it wasn't something he'd seen in what felt like a million years.

That was when his brain caught up with him and he remembered the escape. He also remembered in the same moment the fact that his great escape hadn't been all _that_ successful and he'd still managed to end up in the hands of a Jaffa and a Ghoul – although he hadn't recognized either of them. Startled, he lurched into an upright position, and promptly paid for it.

Pain rushed through every part of his body, radiating from his side, his head _and_ his chest at the same time and making him certain that his body was trying to turn itself inside out. With a gasp he sank back into the pillows, eyes tightly closed against the pain as he tried to remind himself to breathe and hoped his heart would continue beating.

"Officer Ruff?"

The voice was vaguely familiar. As the initial pain from his stupid attempt to sit up passed, he managed to open his eyes to see what was going on around him. And found himself looking up at Daniel Jackson. The man looked bruised and beat up, making Anthony wonder what was going on. He didn't seem to be manacled or anything – and now he lifted his own arm, remembering that he'd been strapped to the rail of the bed the last he'd know. His hand was free, but it ached when he lifted it. He looked at it for a moment, and then back at Daniel Jackson.

"Where am I?"


	21. Chapter 21

Daniel figured _'where am I?'_ was a whole lot better than struggling and panicking. He gave the officer a relieved smile that was mingled with a lot of adrenaline. He'd been sitting in a chair by the officer's bed, waiting for him to wake up, and had dozed off. When Officer Ruff had woken so abruptly, it had actually startled Daniel into wakefulness as well, causing him to fall out of the chair he'd dozed off in.

"You're safe."

Which was a good answer, but apparently wasn't good enough for the deputy. He frowned, turning his head to look around. Daniel knew there wasn't much to see, since Fraiser had put him in an isolated room with the curtains surrounding his bed to keep him from being too distressed when he woke.

"Safe _where_?"

He and Jack had discussed what he could tell Officer Ruff as O'Neill had walked Daniel to the infirmary. It was obvious they weren't going to be able to keep too much of the place a secret – Ruff already knew far more than they really wanted him to, through no fault of his own – so there was no real reason to hide some of the more general information that could be given. Especially if it helped put the deputy at ease when he was so badly on edge.

"In a military compound under Cheyenne Mountain," Daniel replied. "In Colorado," he added, when Ruff just stared at him.

"I'm on Earth?"

"Yes."

There was a long silence, which Daniel was loath to break. The man looked like hell and had been through even worse. Probably he didn't even believe what he was hearing, or just couldn't bring himself to hope it was true. Daniel could understand that. After several minutes of silence, though, he had to speak.

"I don't know if you remember our first meeting," he said. "I'm-"

"Daniel Jackson," Ruff replied, showing that there was nothing wrong with his memory.

"You _do_ remember."

Ruff nodded.

"I'll never forget it."

Which made Daniel squirm a little in embarrassment. He wasn't used to being the _hero_, after all. He was usually the guy that got lost. Before he could figure out what to say next, Officer Ruff spoke again.

"We're in a military instillation?"

"Yes."

Another look at Daniel, this one more appraising.

"Are _you_ in the military?"

"I'm an archeologist."

"Really?"

Now Ruff looked confused, and Daniel couldn't blame him.

"Yes. But here at the SGC I'm usually the answer man when it comes to the system lords."

Which meant nothing to Ruff.

"Listen, Mr. Jackson. How-"

"Call me Daniel."

"Thanks. I'm Anthony."

Daniel nodded; putting a pillow behind Anthony's back to support him a little more. Moving hurt, but not as much as it had when he'd first woken up, so maybe he wasn't as badly injured as he first thought he had been.

"How did we get here?"

"Thor beamed us over to his ship and then returned us here so-"

"Thor?"

Daniel nodded, realizing he'd gone way too fast for the confused deputy.

"He's an Asgard. They're the same race as the little alien that-"

"I know what an Asgard is, Daniel," Anthony interrupted. "That's all the sand people would talk about."

"The sand people?"

Anthony shook his head.

"It doesn't matter." He rubbed his face, and winced as he touched a bruised area. Then his head came up abruptly. "I need to call my wife. I can't even imagine how worried she's been this whole time." He smiled for the first time Daniel had seen. "Probably thought I'd gone off and run away with another woman or something, or maybe she-"

"Anthony…"

Daniel felt a pang go through him at the excited tone of Anthony's voice once he'd started discussing his wife. The one thing that would have pleased him the most was going to stab him in the gut.

The deputy looked up at him, his eyes bright. He saw the hurt in Daniel's expressive gaze, however, and knew whatever was coming wasn't good. He'd delivered plenty of bad news himself in his career, after all.

"What is it? What's wrong?"

"I don't know how to tell you this…" Daniel told him.

"What?" Ruff asked, sharply. "Is it about my wife?"

The archeologist nodded.

"I'm afraid so. There was an accident last year. A car ran into hers, and pushed her off the road. She was killed instantly. I'm sorry, Anthony."

"She's dead?"

He couldn't believe it. The only thing he'd had to live for in all the time he'd been with the sand people and with the Ghouls, and she wasn't even alive? He felt his stomach clench and would have thrown up if there had been anything in his stomach to lose. As it was, he gagged, and Daniel stepped forward, uncertain what he could do but feeling like dirt for being the one to burst the happy bubble.

"Yes."

Anthony turned in the bed, rolling over onto his side away from Daniel. Since that put him on the injured side, Daniel knew it had to be painful, but the deputy didn't shift positions to avoid the discomfort.

"I'm sorry, Anthony," he repeated, helplessly.

The deputy nodded, but didn't turn back over. Daniel thought he heard a muffled sob, but couldn't think of anything to say. He had to try, though. He'd just broken the man's heart, after all.

"If there's anything I can do…" he started.

Anthony shook his head, his face buried in the soft pillow he was leaning against. He'd been planning on thanking Daniel for helping him escape the Ghoul and Jaffa, but now he almost wished he'd never met the archeologist. He'd still be a captive, true, but at least he wouldn't have learned he'd lost the love of his life and hadn't even known it.

Daniel sighed, softly, and pulled the blankets up over the deputy's shoulder.

"Get some rest," he murmured. "We'll talk again later."

There was no reply, but Daniel didn't really expect there to be. He squeezed the man's shoulder for just a moment, and then left him alone.


	22. Chapter 22

_Author's note: Sorry about the wait on this one, guys. Family issues – and my sister is doing very well, thank you for all your prayers and thoughts._

OOOOOOOO

"You _told_ him?"

"I had to, Jacob."

"It could have waited, Daniel. At least until I had a chance to-"

O'Neill scowled, not all that happy about someone else dressing down a member of his team. Even if it was Carter's dad – who was also a retired general and used to being in charge. But before he had a chance to say anything, Daniel interrupted Jacob.

"It couldn't wait. He was looking so excited and was so eager to see her, and I couldn't let him believe that she was alive. It would have made things worse when he found out the truth."

"You don't know that."

The look Daniel gave him was incredulous.

"Of course I know it. I know exactly how he feels, or did you forget that?"

Which brought Jacob to stop, because he knew that Daniel did know. And furthermore, Jacob knew, too. He'd lost his wife, also, and even though it had been year before, the ache returned with a vengeance.

"I'm sorry, Daniel. You're right. I just…"

"You need the intel we can get from Deputy Ruff," Jack finished.

Jacob nodded, his expression unreadable. He hadn't been on the bandwagon when Teal'c had brought up the idea that Ruff might have heard something during the summit, but the more he and his symbiote discussed it, the more they thought there might actually be something to it. Teal'c was a smart guy, after all, and savvy.

"There aren't so many of us that we can afford to lose an agent for nothing."

Not to mention it would give the death meaning for those who would miss him most, Jack decided.

"We'll have to give him some time, Jacob," Jack said. "I can't even imagine how he's feeling right now."

He waned to argue, but he knew that O'Neill was right. There was a pause while he and his symbiote conferred, and he finally nodded.

"You're right, Jack. We need to report what's happened to the others. Hopefully by the time we get back, you'll know more."

Hammond had been sitting at the table watching the interaction between SG-1 and one of his oldest friends. He was pleased that no one seemed angry by the end of the conversation, despite the volatile subject. It could very well have gone south quickly.

"We'll let you know if we find anything out, Jacob."

The Tok'ra nodded.

"Thank you, George."

Carter got up to walk with him to the gate room, but the others stayed where they were. Hammond looked over at O'Neill.

"Let me know as soon as we find anything out."

"Yes, sir."

Jack stood up to go, the others standing as well.

"And Colonel?"

O'Neill turned.

"Sir?"

"I want you to make sure officer Ruff has everything he needs."

"I will, sir."

OOOOOOOOOO

Janet Fraiser pulled open the curtain that surrounded her patient's bed and walked over. Ruff was in the same position he'd been in when Daniel had left, but Janet wasn't going to let him simmer in his own grief for too long. Not alone, anyway.

"Officer Ruff?"

Since she'd moved to stand on the same side that he was facing – which also happened to be the opposite side that the monitors were on – she could see his eyes were closed. And puffy from both crying and the beatings he'd suffered, but she also was fairly certain he wasn't asleep. There were obvious signs of discomfort and she was far too experienced to miss them.

He opened his eyes, looking up at her. His eyes were red and mournful and her heart went out to him.

"I'm Doctor Janet Fraiser," she told him, reaching out and taking his hand, expertly running her fingers against his pulse and checking his heartbeat against the monitor. "How are you feeling?"

"Awful."

His voice was hoarse – probably his throat was raw from crying.

"On a scale of one to ten how's the pain?"

He closed his eyes again, and a tear slid down his cheek. Janet crouched down beside him, pulling a handkerchief and wiping the tear away.

"I'm so sorry for your loss…"

He nodded, but refused to open his eyes again. She was sure he didn't want her sympathy. He probably wanted her to leave him alone, but it wasn't something she could do. He was terribly undernourished and battered – even with the healing Jacob had managed – and while time would fix both, she was more than capable of giving time a helping hand with a lot of good food.

"Is there anything I can bring you?"

He shook his head.

"Thank you…"

Fraiser touched his cheek, which surprised him enough to make him open his eyes.

"If you need anything, just push the call button." She pointed to the device that was intertwined with the rails of the bed. "I'll have them bring you some lunch in about an hour."

"I'm not hungry."

She nodded.

"I know. But you need to eat. You've lost a lot of weight."

"The Ghouls didn't believe in fat slaves," he told her, and Janet couldn't blame him for the bitterness in his voice. Although she did wonder about his odd pronunciation of the word Goa'uld. She gave him a slight smile, and brushed the handkerchief along his cheek once more.

"Well, I don't know about _fat_, but I do believe in _well-fed_ police officers, so I expect you to eat everything we bring you, all right?"

He nodded.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good."


	23. Chapter 23

Only a day before if someone had put a plate of baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy with a side of corn in front of him, he'd have gobbled it down so quickly he probably wouldn't have tasted it, and then pretty much licked the plate clean just to make sure he hadn't missed anything. What a difference only a few hours could make.

A young woman in a white jacket put a tray on a rolling table and pulled it over to the hospital bed he was in. With quick efficiency she helped him sit up a little and propped him up with some pillows behind his shoulders and neck. With what was supposed to be a reassuring smile she presented him with his dinner, and he felt like throwing up.

"Doctor _Fraiser_ wants you to eat as much as you can," she told him, making sure the table was in a good position across his bed so he could reach everything on it. Which included a set of real silverware and an honest to God coffee mug filled with hot steaming coffee. Things he hadn't seen in what felt like a million years. There was even a dish of vanilla ice cream.

Without waiting for him to respond, she gave him another smile.

"I know it doesn't seem to be too much, but we don't want you to eat too much at once and make yourself sick. If you're still hungry, we'll get you seconds in a few hours."

He didn't reply, but she didn't seem to be waiting for one. Instead, she checked to make sure he wasn't tangled with his IV lines and left him alone. He looked at the plate, and closed his eyes, leaning back into the pillows behind him. Food. He would have killed for a cup of coffee before, but now it didn't even smell good.

A tear rolled down his cheek as he thought about how many times he and Cathy had sat in their kitchen drinking coffee after his shift was over, her listening to any interesting story he might have from the night before and him just loving the way she laughed. A choked sob wracked his bruised body and left him gasping with pain.

"You okay?"

He opened his eyes and saw that he'd been joined by one of the people who had been with Daniel when he'd been rescued. The man was standing at the foot of his bed watching him with an unreadable expression. Which was saying something since Anthony was trained to read expressions.

He sniffed, and wiped his cheek with the hand that didn't have an IV attached to it.

"Yeah. Thanks."

"I'm Colonel Jack O'Neill, Officer Ruff."

Anthony nodded, waiting to see what he had to say. He certainly didn't feel up to having a conversation.

The problem was, O'Neill hadn't actually had any particular reason for coming, and didn't have anything really helpful to say. He just wanted a chance to meet Ruff when things were a little less frantic and the guy was more rational. The guy looked like crap, and Jack had been hurt enough times to know that he was in a lot of pain.

"Did they show you how to use the painkiller thing?" he asked, gesturing to the switch that was by the other wires and tubes.

Anthony nodded.

"It's not doing much good."

"Ah."

The two men looked at each other for a moment, sizing each other up.

"Is there something you needed?" Anthony finally asked. He wasn't up to much conversation, but it was better than staring at each other.

Jack hesitated, but eventually nodded and walked over to the side of the bed.

"I need information."

Ruff snorted, an amused sound with absolutely no humor.

"I don't even know what _day_ it is, Colonel. What could I possibly tell you?"

"It's Thursday. Thursday is chicken day in the commissary." He pushed the table with the food out of the way and sat down in the chair that Daniel had been in earlier. "I need to know about the summit."

"What?"

"Ba'al and his buddies had a meeting. I need to know what they discussed."

"They're not buddies. At least I don't _think_ they were. They weren't acting like friends, anyway."

What did he know about Ghouls?

"How _were_ they acting?"

"They were planning something. Some kind of weapon. Something about…" he paused, trying to think of what that other slave had told him – had it only been two or three days ago? It felt like forever. "Something called a Star… um…"

"Stargate?"

"Yes. I'm pretty sure that's what he said it was."

"Who? Ba'al?"

Ruff shook his head.

"Ball wouldn't have spoken to me, Colonel. I was way beneath him. The _Jaffa_ didn't even like speaking to me." He shifted in the bed a little, uncomfortable but unable to make the ache in his chest go away. "It was Gator's slave who told me."

"Gator?"

Anthony shrugged.

"I don't know her real name. But she was evil to the core, if you ask me."

"Which I am. How many others were there?"

"Ghoul? Six total. Plus Jaffa and slaves. I don't know what all they were talking about. I was there, but I couldn't follow much. They were babbling for the most part."

"Tell me about the weapon – if you can."

He tried to remember what Zef had told him, but a lot had happened between then and now. Including a nasty beating that had garnered him a concussion.

O'Neill didn't press, knowing that he was probably doing the best he could, and glad to even have a chance to start getting information – no matter how scarce.

"Was it a bomb of some kind?" he asked, trying to help the officer focus a little. He didn't seem able to concentrate all that well.

Anthony shook his head.

"I'm not sure. Just something about the Stargate things." He rubbed his face, tiredly. "You're worried about it having something to do with Earth?"

"Yes."

The deputy shook his head again.

"They didn't mention Earth at all. We're not their target. They're after something called a Taree."

"_Tau'ri_?" Jack asked, giving the word the proper pronunciation.

"Yeah. That's the word. Know what it is?"

O'Neill stood up.

"Actually, I do. I need you to do me a favor and try to remember everything you heard about that weapon, okay?"

If he left him alone instead of hovering over him, it might help him concentrate better. Besides, he had to talk to the others.

"I'll try…"

"Thank you."

He turned and left, leaving one very confused deputy alone once more. Anthony realized that he knew even less than he had before. Which was kind of annoying, considering they'd at least been speaking English. He closed his eyes against a headache that was forming above his right eye.

"At least I know Thursday is chicken day…" he muttered. It wasn't much to make him smile considering what he'd lost, but it was better than nothing.


	24. Chapter 24

O'Neill went straight from the infirmary to Hammond and immediately after that the members of SG-1 and all the commanding officers of the other SG teams – those that were at the GSC – were all assembled in the briefing room. O'Neill repeated what little information he'd garnered from Officer Ruff, and Hammond looked at his team leaders.

"Have any of you heard anything from your offworld contacts about the Goa'uld doing any kind of research on the Stargates?"

Heads were shaking all around the table – which wasn't that big of a surprise, really. Whatever Ba'al was up to, he wasn't going to be spreading it around if he could avoid it.

"I recommend that we recall any teams we have offworld at the moment, though," Daniel said.

Hammond nodded.

"I've already set it into motion. We have four teams out, and they're all on friendly worlds. But we don't want to risk something happening and stranding them away from home."

If that happened they'd have to try and get word to the Tok'ra or Asgard – who might be able to help them retrieve their stranded people. And might not be willing.

"You didn't get any indication what kind of weapon it is?" one of the other men asked O'Neill.

Jack shook his head.

"According to Fraiser, Officer Ruff took a nasty blow to the head and has a concussion. He's not at his best right now – and even if he was, he's hampered by the fact that he didn't really understand all that much that they were saying around him."

"That's not very helpful," another complained.

"We'll try to make sure the next abductees are taught Goa'uld before we allow them to be snatched," Daniel replied with a hint of sarcasm and a lot of annoyance. Like it was Anthony's fault he couldn't tell them what had happened?

The man had the grace to look apologetic, but Hammond spoke up before he could reply.

"That'll do, Doctor Jackson." He turned to O'Neill. "Is he coherent enough for a real debriefing?" he asked.

Jack shook his head.

"He's not going to be able to give you much. He's in a lot of pain, and what they're giving him isn't doing a lot to stop it. Not to mention the shock of hearing about his wife. We'd better give him a couple of days to recover."

"That'll give us time to get our people back and get in touch with the Tok'ra and see if they know anything we don't," Carter added, more than willing to give Ruff as much time as they could – as long as it didn't put the base in jeopardy. 

Hammond nodded.

"I want you to all discuss this with your teams and see if anyone has heard something – even something so negligible that they might not have opted to mention it to you. The more we can find out, the better."

They all nodded and left, and Hammond turned to O'Neill again.

"Will you ask Doctor Fraiser how long she intends to keep Officer Ruff?"

Daniel looked over.

"What are you planning on doing with him?"

The general looked annoyed at the question – probably because he wasn't really all that certain himself. It wasn't something that came up every day – even in a top-secret facility like Stargate Command.

"I'll have to discuss it with people a lot higher up than myself, Doctor Jackson. Don't worry, though, we're going to take good care of him."

"We've done a bang up job _so_ _far_…"

Since Daniel mumbled it under his breath as he gathered what little he'd brought to the meeting, Hammond was able to choose to pretend he hadn't heard it. Not that he didn't agree with Jackson's sentiments, however, because he _did_. What had happened to Ruff shouldn't have happened to anyone on Earth, and Hammond was going to make sure that the man was taken care of – no matter whether he chose to work with the SGC in some capacity, or if he just wanted to become a hermit.

He looked to Carter.

"See if you can get in touch with Jacob, Major. And while you're at it, contact the Asgard also."

"They're going to tell us they can't do anything because of the protected planet treaty," Jack reminded Hammond.

"And _we're_ going to remind them that they're the ones who snatched Officer Ruff in the first place," Hammond replied. He waited for an argument, but since everyone in the room agreed completely with him, there wasn't one coming. "Dismissed."

The general retreated into his office to make a couple of calls, and the others all headed for the door.

"Too bad Officer Ruff didn't have one of those translator things in his head when he was listening to Ba'al and the other system lords," Sam said.

"Indeed," Teal'c agreed, opening the door for the others. "If one could simply wish for an easy solution, however, we would be just as well served to wish to have been listening in one the conversation ourselves."

"Fly on the wall kind of thing, huh, Teal'c?" O'Neill asked, walking out and running straight into Daniel's research assistant, who had been waiting outside the door. She went down, and the folder in her hand went flying.

"Kira?" Daniel asked, leaning over to offer her a hand up. "Are you okay?"

She smiled and got to her feet, waving off Jack's instant apology.

"I'm fine. I need to talk to you, though, if you have a minute…?" 

Teal'c had gathered up her files and handed them over to her with a slightly amused bow – it was hardly the first time she'd been run over, after all, and the Jaffa knew she wasn't as fragile as her slight frame made her seem.

The archeologist looked at the others, and Jack made a shooing motion with his hands.

"Go ahead, Daniel. If we need you, we know how to find you." He looked at Kira. "You're sure I didn't hurt you?"

Amused and touched by his concern, she shook her head. A bruise or two at the most – certainly not life-threatening.

"I'm fine, Jack." He didn't look completely convinced, but she was too intent on talking to Daniel to stick around and let him wallow in guilt like she might have. It was enjoyable when there was time. She turned to Daniel. "Can we go to your office?"

He nodded, recognizing the excitement and slight urgency in her mannerism – if not her words.

"I'll talk to you guys later."

Kira didn't say anything as the others left, but as she and Daniel turned to head toward his office, she handed him the file, unable to wait until they reached his office.

"I did some checking on Officer Ruff, Daniel," she said, as he opened the file. "On his wife, actually…"

She trailed off as he started reading, and could tell from his expression the moment he reached the most interesting part. He stopped in the middle of the corridor and looked up.

"Are you _sure_ about this?"

She nodded.

"Want me to confirm it?"

"Yes. And keep it quiet until you get back to me, okay?"

"Sure thing."

OOOOOOOOO

_Author's note: A thank you to Dietcokechic for loaning me Kira :)_


	25. Chapter 25

O'Neill was waiting for Daniel at the junction of two corridors, and he gave the archeologist an odd look. Which was only right since Daniel looked almost excited – certainly not as worried as he had only a minute before.

"What's up?"

"Nothing."

_"Nothing?"_

Daniel shook his head.

"Nothing."

O'Neill wasn't convinced. 

"What did Kira want?"

"She's working on some research."

"Something to do with the Goa'uld?"

"Nope."

"No?"

_"No."_

Knowing that Jack was a far better interrogator than he was a resistor, Daniel turned to head down the opposite corridor. A hand on his shoulder stopped him, and he turned.

"You _know_ I'm going to find out, right?"

"Probably."

"_Kira_ will tell me."

"Not until she finishes what she's researching – and I told her to make sure she tells _me_, first."

Bah.

"I'm going to go talk to Fraiser."

"Good. I'll be there in a little bit."

He wanted to see how Anthony was doing.

OOOOOOOOOO

"He's not doing very well, Colonel…"

Janet Fraiser was clearly worried about her patient. His chart was sitting on the desk in front of her, she'd been frowning over it when Jack had knocked on the door to her office, and her frown had deepened when he'd asked Officer Ruff's condition.

"But Jacob healed him with that Tok'ra thingy."

"He healed a lot, yes. Enough that Anthony's body should be able to handle the rest of it on his own."

"But he isn't?"

She shrugged; looking out the window of her office toward the section of the infirmary the deputy was being taken care of.

"No. He's still in a lot of pain, and I'm worried about his mental condition."

"You think he's gone crazy?"

She shook her head.

"I think he's grieving and it's getting in the way of his healing."

He sat down in one of the chairs in her office. He didn't doubt her diagnosis – she knew as well as he did, and probably even better, just how much the mind and mental state were involved when it came to healing a person's body. He'd seen many men die that shouldn't have, and men that definitely were knocking at the pearly gates survive where most shouldn't have. Ruff losing his wife might have been the final blow that Ba'al and the Jaffa hadn't been able to deal.

"Think we should bring in a psychologist?"

"Maybe. I doubt he'd talk to one. Not right now, anyway. I'm thinking about putting him on stronger medications, but I know that you and General Hammond want to be able to talk to him. If I increase his medications, he's not going to be much good for conversation."

"But he'll heal?"

"He won't be able to think very clearly," she replied. "It's a temporary measure at best, and eventually he'll have to face the death of his wife, but he'll have a better chance of clearing some of the physical hurdles."

O'Neill nodded.

"If you're asking for permission, I'm all for it," he told her. "We're waiting on the Tok'ra and the Asgard anyway, so he might as well get better while we wait."

"What are the Asgard coming for?" she asked, curiously. 

"Ba'al's being a pain in the ass, and we're hoping to force Thor into helping us with him."

"By using the situation with Officer Ruff?"

"If I have to, yes."

He was more than willing to remind Thor of what the Asgard – well, Loki, anyway – had done to Ruff, and if it was enough to make the little alien bring out some big guns to protect Earth from whatever it was Ba'al was cooking up with the other Goa'uld, he was all for it.

Luckily, Janet agreed. Now that he was in her infirmary, she'd protect Ruff from whatever might endanger him, but the Asgard could pony up some protection, too, as far as she was concerned. O'Neill was as good as anyone when it came to bringing up that kind of thing, she knew, and when it wasn't being turned on her, she could appreciate his forceful personality. 

"I'm going to increase his medication, then."

O'Neill nodded.

"I'll inform Hammond."

OOOOOOOOOOO

He met up with Carter and Teal'c back in the command center. She was just closing down the stargate – and presumably a connection with either the Tok'ra or the Asgard.

"Any luck?" he asked, coming over in time to watch the dialing computer go idle.

She shrugged.

"Dad's off with a couple of others on some kind of mission, trying to find out what the system lords are up to. They'll tell him we're looking for him as soon as he gets back."

"And the Asgard?"

She smiled.

"Thor is ready to render assistance as soon as we know what we need."

"Even against the Goa'uld?"

That was a surprise. He really had expected him to dither about the whole protected planet treaty thing.

"Major Carter was very adept at interjecting Officer Ruff's name into the conversation," Teal'c said, looking about as smug as a Jaffa could. It was a scary sight if you didn't know him well, Jack decided. "He did not mention the protected planet treaty one time."

"Good. Maybe by the time your dad gets back, we'll have some more information from our own people."

He didn't sound all that optimistic, but she didn't mention it. She didn't feel all that optimistic, either.

OOOOOOOOO

A touch of a gentle hand on his cheek woke Anthony from a restless sleep. He opened his eyes, wincing at the ache in his head that wasn't going away, and wishing he could do something about the ache in his soul that would never leave.

Doctor Fraiser was standing by his bed. He wasn't surprised; she was hovering a lot, he noticed. Her expression was always worried – even though she tried to hide it – and he knew he wasn't progressing like she wanted him to. He just couldn't seem to get up the energy to care if he did or not.

"Anthony?"

He didn't really want to answer her, but he knew she'd worry if he didn't. He wasn't so far gone that he didn't care about easing that burden if he could. The whole _protect and serve _thing all over again, he supposed.

"Yes…?"

"I'm going to increase your painkillers," Fraiser told him.

He frowned, wondering why she was telling him instead of just doing it. Which meant that something bad could happen? He wasn't sure, even though he was pretty sure he should know. He was just having trouble focusing most of the time.

Fraiser noticed the frown, and leaned down a little.

"You might have trouble concentrating," she told him. "But the pain will ease up a bit and hopefully give you a chance to heal a bit more."

He wanted to tell her not to bother, but he couldn't have. The thought of not hurting was promising, no matter what kind of side-affects there were.

"Okay…"

She hesitated.

"We can only use the strong dose for a few days before it's dangerous," she said.

"'kay."

He didn't care if it killed him. At least now he'd be buried on Earth, and not jettisoned out into space like some kind of garbage. He closed his eyes, the light too bright to keep them open any longer. Luckily Fraiser seemed to be finished talking to him. He felt her hand squeeze his forearm lightly, and then there was some kind of fiddling with the IV above his head. Less than two minutes later he felt the ache fading, and sighed softly as he fell asleep once more.

Janet watched her patient just long enough to assure herself that he was resting comfortably and then she covered him with a freshly warmed blanket and left him to sleep.

Time would tell.


	26. Chapter 26

It was almost three full days before Jacob Carter returned to the SGC. There wasn't any warning beyond the gate dialing that he was coming, but it didn't take long for those who were needed to assemble in the briefing room once he arrived. With him, he carried a medium-sized case that he placed on the table in front of him as everyone filed into the room.

"Jacob…" O'Neill said, greeting him but looking at the case. 

"Hi, Jack."

"Tell me that's an anti-Goa'uld device that the Tok'ra just invented."

Carter gave a slight smile, his brown eyes warming even further when he saw his daughter enter the room with Daniel and Teal'c.

"I wish I could," he said, as everyone sat down. "However, it _is_ a possible solution to our problem."

"Which problem is that?" Daniel asked. "There are so many of them."

The people of the SGC were tense. They only knew that the system lords were planning something – something big that had to do with their stargate, which was volatile enough on its own without help from evil aliens. Without intel to tell them exactly what was being planned, they didn't have any way to prepare for it, and no idea just how broad the danger was; if it was just the mountain that was in danger, or the state, or even the planet. 

"The lack of information we have about the new weapon that Ba'al is developing," Jacob answered, understanding the tenseness in the room. He felt it, too, after all. "We've contacted every operative that we safely could, and none of them have any idea what is going to happen. Most of them know that something is up – the summit was hardly a secret, after all – but it was by invitation only, and there were very few invited."

"No chance that Ba'al is changing his mind about whatever it is he's planning on doing?" O'Neill asked. "He _must_ know that we have Ruff."

"And he also knows that Ruff was a slave without any understanding of the conversations that were going on around him," Jacob replied. "He's not thinking that the deputy is much of a threat."

"And he's right," Hammond said. "We didn't get much out of him."

Jacob frowned at the finality of that statement.

"He's not dead is he?"

Sam shook her head.

"No. But Doctor Fraiser had to give him some pretty hefty painkillers. He's not in any condition to tell us anything, now, even if he did have any idea what they'd been saying."

"We might have come up with a way to know what was said," Jacob told them, reaching out and touching the case in front of him. "But we'd need his cooperation – and we definitely need him to be coherent."

"Oh?"

"What is it?" Sam asked, curiously.

"A memory device," her father answered. "A way to see what he saw."

"He didn't understand what was being said, Jacob," Jack reminded him. "How is that going to help?"

"Because this time _we'll_ see it, too, Jack," the Tok'ra explained. "Between Teal'c, Daniel and myself, there will be plenty of people who understand what's going on."

"Provided he saw anything useful," Hammond said.

"Chances are, he did."

Sam nodded, looking excited, even though her command of the Goa'uld language wasn't that great. She was more interested in the device.

"It shows you what was seen?"

"Yes. It'll project the memories into a holographic display that can be watched by as many people as we need."

"Not too many," Jack corrected, with a slight frown. These _were_ personal memories, after all.

"Only who we need," Jacob repeated.

"Provided Officer Ruff is willing to help," Teal'c said. "O'Neill raises an important issue. He may not wish for others to view his memories. No doubt they are private."

"We don't have to watch everything, Teal'c," Jacob said. "Just the meetings…"

He looked over at Hammond for help. 

"It's a good idea, Jacob," the general said. "I'm sure Officer Ruff will be willing to cooperate."

He didn't have any reason not to, after all. Besides, Hammond had been in constant contact with Fraiser in regards to the deputy's condition, and her somewhat radical plan of putting him on enough painkillers to dope an elephant was apparently paying off. Ruff wasn't very coherent, but his concussion was healing nicely, and he didn't look quite so beat up when Hammond had gone to look in on him.

"I'll go talk to him if you want," Jacob offered.

Daniel shook his head.

"I'll do it, Jacob," he said. "I know him better, and he doesn't really have any reason to trust you."

"He doesn't know you," Sam added. "And Daniel practically rescued him single-handedly from Ba'al."

"He had a little help," Jacob said, just a little annoyed. Not that he could fault their reasoning; it was just that he didn't like the implications that the deputy didn't like him. Of course, given that the last time Ruff had seen him, he'd been holding him down and threatening him with a hand device that he was terrified of, Jacob could understand why he might have some misgivings. 

Sam smiled.

"You know what I mean."

"Yeah."

Hammond turned to Daniel.

"Go talk to him, Doctor Jackson. See if we can get him to cooperate."

Daniel looked at Jacob.

"Does this thing hurt?"

"A device is implanted above the temple," the Tok'ra answered. "But aside from that – which is about like a shot – it doesn't hurt, and it won't damage any brain cells or change his personality in any way."

The archeologist nodded and stood up.

"I'll be right back."

Hopefully.

OOOOO

_Author's note: I know that in the regular story timeline SG-1 would have known about the memory devices by now, but in mine, this is their first introduction to the things_


	27. Chapter 27

_Author's Note: This one would have been out sooner, but it was deleted on my computer twice - which is annoyingly frustrating. But it finally made it and survived long enough to make it to the big show, so to speak._

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

He knew better than to go right to Anthony's bedside. It was Janet Fraiser's infirmary, and if he wanted to discuss something with her patient, he needed to make sure that she thought he was coherent enough to even have a conversation with in the first place. Not to mention, he wanted to know how Anthony was doing.

Janet hadn't kept him on the heavy painkillers as long as she'd planned on when she'd started them. For one thing, while they'd knocked back the pain they'd also brought out what must have been some horrific nightmares to judge from the way they'd left the deputy screaming. Fraiser and her staff had been forced to keep him sedated as well as drugged, and the concoction of medications were so volatile that she'd taken him off both as soon as the swelling in his brain had subsided enough that it wasn't going to kill him. With the swelling down, the concussion was healing nicely, and she'd told Daniel that morning that she was planning on switching him to far less dangerous painkillers as early as that evening. Which would also help them judge a little more accurately how Ruff was doing, since they couldn't get a lot of information out of a guy who wasn't completely positive who they were – and probably was having trouble figuring out who _he_ was, as well.

Daniel was hoping as he entered the infirmary that she'd already started the process.

Not surprisingly, Janet wasn't all that enthusiastic about the Tok'ra messing with her patient. She was even less thrilled to find out that the device they wanted to use on him was going to be connected to his brain.

"Absolutely not, Daniel. It could kill him."

"Jacob told General Hammond that it won't hurt him. It's no worse than getting a shot."

Fraiser frowned.

"When's the last time _you_ had someone read your memories through a device stuck in your brain?"

He had to concede her point, but he wasn't willing to give up just yet.

"Okay, so I don't know for sure that it doesn't hurt any worse than a shot, but Jacob doesn't have any reason to want Anthony hurt – and every reason to keep him healthy."

"Until he gets the information he needs…"

"You know better than that." Daniel understood that Janet was being protective of her patient – he was protective of Anthony, too, after all – but she was also well aware that Jacob wasn't the bad guy she was making him out to be. "He's not a Goa'uld."

She crossed her arms over her chest, unconvinced. Daniel had expected that, though. Janet was easily as stubborn as Jack – she _had_ to be to be able to deal with him, after all. Luckily, the archeologist was used to dealing with Jack, too, and he knew to appeal to Janet's most basic beliefs, which was what he did next.

"We should at least _ask_ him, Janet," Daniel told her, his expression as convincing as he could make it. "After being under someone else's thumb for the last year and a half, I'd say it's only fair to give him a chance to make some decisions for himself. Don't you agree?"

There was no way she was going to say no when he put it that way, and he knew it. And so did she. If Anthony went along with the idea, Janet would be more inclined to say yes, also, for the same reason. She agreed with Daniel that Ruff had the right to make some decisions for himself – although she knew she was being manipulated, and her expression plainly told the archeologist he wasn't going to get much further with that line of argument.

"We can _discuss_ it with him," she told him, after a few long moments. "But not until he's more lucent."

"How long?" Daniel asked.

"I stripped his dosages to the barest I thought he'd need starting this morning. We're watching for signs of discomfort and will take actions if we need to, but if he doesn't require anything too potent, he should be waking up in a few hours – give or take."

She waited for an argument, but there wasn't one coming.

"We can wait that long," he replied with a nod. Of course, Jacob and the rest of the Tok'ra – and even some of the people in the SGC – might not agree with him, but they could come down here and debate it with Fraiser on their own. Daniel had managed to get the concession he needed, that was enough for him.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Anthony?"

He knew the voice – at least, he was pretty _sure_ he did. It was just a matter of opening his eyes and confirming that it was the doctor speaking to him. The only problem was that it was a lot of effort to open his eyes, and the last time he remembered doing it, it had caused pain to come screaming through his head.

A cool hand brushed lightly against his chin, and the touch was enough to force him into opening his eyes. Gentle touches weren't something he was used to lately, and it was an automatic reaction to open his eyes and see who it was.

Janet Fraiser smiled reassuringly when her patient opened his eyes. She noticed the slight wince when he reacted to the light, but it was a lot less pronounced than the last time she'd seen him wake up, and she knew it was because his head wasn't hurting as much as it had been. Which was always a good thing.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, looking over at the monitor to check his vitals to gauge his pain level. His heartbeat didn't accelerate much, and his breathing remained more or less steady, both of which were good signs.

He looked like a drunk trying to sober up, but Janet was used to that kind of reaction. It was common with the more potent medications. He'd had a bad time of things – even with the medications taking the edge off the pain – so she was more than willing to wait and give him time to decide exactly how he was feeling.

The deputy took a couple of deep breaths, maybe doing his own self check on his condition, but when he spoke he didn't sound all that certain.

"Okay…?"

She smiled. _That_ was a fairly common response, also. He was having trouble focusing. Typical with someone who was recovering from a head injury.

"Can you tell me what day it is?"

Another pause, and this time he looked up at the ceiling, clearly trying to sort it out.

"Chicken day?"

She hesitated. _That_ was a new one.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Daniel was in Carter's lab when Fraiser sent for him. He'd been talking with Jacob about the memory device, making sure that he understood exactly what the thing was supposed to do so that when the time came he'd be able to explain it to Anthony. Sam had been listening in because she was fascinated – and a little disturbed – by the technology her father was suggesting they use on the deputy. When the phone rang she reached for it without taking her eyes off the device.

"Carter."

She looked over at Daniel after only a moment, and held the phone out to you.

"It's Janet. Deputy Ruff's awake."


	28. Chapter 28

Ruff was sitting up in bed when Daniel arrived. There was a plate of mostly untouched food on the table beside him and he looked like crap, but when he looked over at Daniel's approach he was as alert as he'd been on Ba'al's ship. Which was a definite improvement.

"Daniel."

The archeologist smiled at the greeting, impressed that the deputy still remembered his name. He walked over and sat down in the chair beside the bed.

"Hey, Anthony. How's the head?"

"Awful."

"Better than before?"

The deputy made a face, and shifted a little in the bed.

"Yes."

Aside from the huge empty space in his heart and life. He felt the grief welling up within him and almost gagged at how much it hurt. He tried to fight it down, which didn't work all that well, but managed to choke down a sob.

"Doctor Fraiser said you wanted to talk to me?"

Daniel hadn't missed the hurt in his voice – and expression – that had welled up so suddenly and had no problem figuring out what caused it. He knew what the man was feeling – and even felt a pang as Anthony's pain reminded him of his own loss.

"Yeah…"

Anthony watched him for a moment, but when Daniel didn't say anything, he tilted his head a little, which hurt.

"About what?"

"We need to find out about the weapon that Ba'al has," Daniel said.

"I don't know what it is," Anthony told him, annoyance and frustration overcoming his loss for the moment. "I didn't know what they were saying, only what I was told."

"I know," Daniel assured him. "But we have a way that might make it so _we_ can find out what you couldn't."

"Yeah? What?"

If there was a way, then they should have used it by now. Who knew when Ball was going to make his move?

"The Tok'ra have a device," Daniel said. "One that can allow us look at your memories."

"My memories?"

"Of the _summit_," Daniel said, quickly. "Nothing else."

"I don't understand."

"It's a device," Daniel repeated. "One that transmits your memories into a hologram so that others can see what you saw. In this case, the summit. If we can see what you saw, then we can understand what was said, and know what to expect – and hopefully stop it before it actually happens."

"You'd see what I saw?"

"Yes."

"In a _hologram_?"

"As far as I understand it, yes."

Now Ruff's expression was skeptical, and Daniel could understand completely.

"It sounds like something out of a bad sci-fi movie, Daniel."

"And being abducted by aliens isn't?"

Touché.

Ruff hesitated, uncertain.

"We need that information, Anthony," Daniel told him. "Otherwise I'd never ask."

"What will this… memory doohickey do to me?"

"Nothing. Jacob says there are no side affects. It's attached to your brain just above your temple – without any surgery – and detaches the same way. He says it doesn't hurt any more than a shot."

"Jacob?"

"Yeah. Jacob Carter. He's a Tok'ra." Daniel frowned. "Well, actually, he's a retired Air Force General who _became_ a Tok'ra. It's a long story."

"I bet."

Ruff didn't look convinced, but he didn't look totally against the idea, either, which was a good start.

"How about I introduce you to him?" Daniel asked. "Then you can talk to him about the device, and he can answer any questions you might have."

"A Tok'ra."

He knew that the Tok'ra were enemies of the Ghouls, but that didn't necessarily make him a friend, did it? Even if he really was a retired Air Force officer, it didn't mean that he could be trusted, really.

"Yeah." Daniel hesitated, easily reading the uncertainty in Anthony's expression. "I know you don't have any reason to trust him, but _I_ do. Besides, he helped us rescue you."

Anthony shrugged.

"Bring him in, then."

"Really?"

"Sure."

"You'll trust him?"

"I trust _you_."

Which was good enough.

Daniel nodded and stood up.

"He's waiting to hear from me. I'll be right back."

Without waiting for a reply, Daniel left. Anthony watched him go and then sighed, leaning back into the pillows behind his head. He had to be out of his mind.

Before he had a chance to reconsider, Daniel was back. This time he was accompanied by a man that Anthony vaguely remembered seeing before.

"Jacob Carter, I'd like to introduce you to Deputy Anthony Ruff. Anthony, this is Jacob Carter."

"You look a lot better than you did the last time I saw you," Jacob said, confirming Anthony's thought that he had seen the man before. The deputy didn't know what to say to that, however. He sat up a little in the bed, and decided to avoid the small talk all together.

"Daniel says you have a device that can see my memories."

Jacob nodded, accepting the change of subject.

"It'll show your memories of the Goa'uld summit so those of us who understand Goa'uld will know what was said."

"Yeah…" he didn't sound all that convinced, and didn't try to hide it. "And it won't scramble my brains?"

"No."

Anthony looked over at Daniel.

"How many people?"

Daniel squirmed a little, realizing he should have brought this up a little sooner.

"Actually, Anthony, it depends."

Ruff realized whatever was coming wasn't going to be something he liked. Of course, the last time Daniel had looked like that, it had been when he'd told him about Cathy's death.

"Depends on what?"

"We have… an expert… who could probably give us a lot of insight to what you saw – especially where the Jaffa are concerned – but he's not someone you're really going to want to see."

"Oh?"

"Yeah."

"The _Jaffa_?"

Daniel was surprised, although he really shouldn't have been. Anthony was a cop, after all, and no matter how much time he'd been offworld that wasn't going to take away the fact that he could put two and two together. He'd seen the Jaffa, and remembered him from the ship when he'd been rescued. While his mind wasn't completely a hundred percent, he remembered O'Neill yelling at him that he was a friend – and really, Anthony couldn't see the man allowing a Jaffa on a ship he was on. _He_ might not trust the Jaffa, but Colonel O'Neill did, and Daniel obviously had.

"His name is Teal'c…"

"And he's _really_ a Jaffa?"

Daniel nodded.

"He is. He was First Prime for a system lord named Apophis."

"But not any more?"

"No."

"And you're _sure_ of that?"

"Yes. Would you like to meet him?"

"No."

"Oh."

It had probably been too much to hope for that Ruff would be able to put aside animosity for the Jaffa so easily, but Daniel had hoped. And not just because he wanted Teal'c in on the memory thing.

"He can watch, though," Anthony said, closing his eyes.


	29. Chapter 29

The small group gathered in the infirmary less than an hour after Anthony gave them permission to sneak a peek into his memories. Jacob had wanted to do it in a briefing room where there would be more room for those watching, but Fraiser had refused to allow her patient out of bed just yet. He was stable, but he wasn't anywhere near as healthy as she'd have liked. Besides, doing t at Anthony's bedside cut down on the size of the crowd to make sure there weren't more people than the deputy would be comfortable with.

Not that it helped all that much when _Teal'c_ entered the room. Anthony stiffened considerably when the big Jaffa walked in, despite the fact that Daniel had purposely had Sam Carter walk in with him to remind the officer that Teal'c wasn't a threat. None of them were carrying weapons – which had Anthony wishing for a gun himself, just in case – but they were all fairly relaxed as Teal'c and Carter came over an joined Jack O'Neill, Daniel and Jacob Carter.

"You remember everyone?" Daniel asked Anthony as Teal'c seated himself directly in Anthony's line of vision, fairly certain that it would make the deputy more comfortable if he wasn't hovering over his shoulder or somewhere out of sight.

Anthony didn't take his eyes off the Jaffa, but he nodded.

"O'Neill, Carter, Carter and Teal'c."

Proving once more that there was nothing wrong with his memory – just his head. He didn't comment about the similarity in Jacob and Sam's names, but that really wasn't too much of a surprise, Daniel decided. Not with the careful way he was watching Teal'c. He probably didn't have any time to be curious and suspicious at the same time. Luckily, Teal'c wasn't bothered by the scrutiny at all – or at least he wasn't showing it.

"Do you have any other questions before we begin?" Jacob asked, setting up the device on the table that was positioned over Anthony's bed.

"No."

Janet Fraiser arrived at that moment, and walked over to hover at the officer's shoulder. She wasn't really needed in the proceedings, but there wasn't any way she was going to allow an alien device to be used on one of her patients without her being present in case something went wrong. Anthony certainly didn't seem to mind the addition; he relaxed the death grip he had on his blanket without even realizing it and even managed to take his eyes off Teal'c long enough to flash her an uncomfortable look that was supposed to be confident and fell far short. She rested her hand lightly on his shoulder to reassure him and he went back to watching Teal'c.

"Are you ready?" Jacob asked.

Ruff nodded. He wasn't, but there was no putting it off.

"Go ahead."

A small device was pressed against his head, right above his temple, and Anthony hissed in pain as it was suddenly seemed to be shoved right into his brain. Which was exactly what had happened, of course. Fraiser's hand tightened on his shoulder, but the pain faded almost immediately, as Jacob knew it would. He set activated the device on the table, and looked at Anthony, who had turned from watching Teal'c and was now watching him, waiting to hear what he was supposed to do.

"Think of the summit…" the Tok'ra told him.

Anthony tried to focus on that, and a moment later the device showed the slave barracks on the ship, and the Jaffa who had selected him to stand in on the summit to serve Ball. A moment later the scene changed, and it showed several Jaffa beating the crap out of him when he hadn't been so excited about being selected.

"The _summit_," Jacob reminded him, gently, trying to help the deputy refocus. The beating was disturbing, but it wasn't what they needed to see.

Anthony took a deep breath and tried to think more about the summit than the Jaffa. It wasn't easy with one right there in the room with him.

The scene changed, and this time it was the room the summit had been held in, shown to them from Anthony's point of view, of course. Ball was there, and it showed the moment Bitchzilla had walked in. It then showed the punch Anthony had taken when he hadn't been respectful enough toward her.

"Damn…"

Anthony looked over at O'Neill, but couldn't read his tight expression.

"Who else was there?" Jacob asked, once more bringing his attention back to where they needed it.

"Thumbtack, Toothbrush, Gator-"

"_Think_ about them," Jacob said, with absolutely no idea who each of those names referred to.

Anthony did what he was told, and the device showed each of the others arriving. None of the people in the room spoke as the conversation was held, and even though Anthony didn't have a clue what was being said, Daniel obviously did and was taking notes.

The scene changed suddenly as Anthony's mind wandered from the conversation he couldn't understand and inevitably turned to his wife, and the group was suddenly looking at a pretty woman with brown hair and blue eyes, sitting at a table in what was obviously a kitchen, drinking something from a cup and smiling at them. Anthony gave a choked sob, and Jacob switched off the machine.

"Are you all right?"

Wiping away tears he hadn't been able to control, Anthony nodded.

"I'm sorry…"

"It happens," the Tok'ra told him, sympathetically. "We have plenty of time, okay? Don't feel rushed, and if you lose control, we'll take a break when we need to…"

How could he be mad – or even annoyed – when the guy had clearly lost so much?

Janet handed Anthony a tissue, and he took another deep breath.

"Go ahead."

Jacob nodded and turned the machine back on. The woman vanished and the room took her place. Again the Ghouls were speaking, and this time Anthony tried to keep his focus on what was being said. It was a lot harder than he'd thought it would be.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Hammond looked up when SG-1 entered the briefing room several hours later. All of them but Teal'c looked exhausted and bleak, and the general came out of his office, surprised to see them.

"You're done already?"

O'Neill shook his head.

"We're taking a break."

"How's Officer Ruff?"

"About one memory away from a total breakdown," Jack said, sitting down and rubbing his face, tiredly.

Ruff hadn't been able to keep focused only on the summit, and they'd had several views of beatings that the deputy had taken at the hands of the Jaffa. Add to that the memories that Anthony had shared of his wife, followed by heartbreaking sobs from the deputy since he knew he wasn't going to see her again, and it was hard for anyone with any kind of compassion to sit through.

"Is he going to be alright?"

"We're taking a break to give him a chance to get settled," Sam told Hammond. "We'll go back when Janet says he's ready."

"This could take longer than we thought," Daniel admitted, looking through the notes he'd taken already. "But it's definitely what we were hoping we'd get. They didn't keep him away from anything; when we get through, we're probably going to know everything that they discussed – and we should know what kind of weapon we're dealing with."

"Good. As long as we don't break him getting what we need…"

Carter shook her head.

"Janet and Jacob are being careful, sir."


	30. Chapter 30

The next two days were hell for Anthony. Despite his best efforts – and he really did try – he had trouble concentrating on only the memories of the summit, so besides that particular series of events, he'd also covered most of his wedding day, the day he was kidnapped by the Asgard and pretty much every beating he'd suffered at the hands of the Jaffa. The memories left him aching, both for his dead wife and a residual ache from each blow that landed.

When it was too rough to handle, Janet Fraiser would call for a break. She'd do what she could to help him relax – which wasn't much – and sometimes just be there while he cried, and the others would leave him alone in his misery until he'd managed to get himself back under control.

Then they'd file back into the room and the whole thing would start again.

He knew they didn't like what they were seeing – and he was pretty sure that whatever they were hearing from Ball and the other Ghouls was bad news – but they needed the information, and that was pretty much all that was keeping him from sending them away and simply dissolving on the spot. Daniel had told him – and Fraiser had confirmed it – that the people of Earth were the Taree, at least that was what the Ghouls called them. That meant that the target was Earth, and while he was numb, he was still unwilling to allow his own discomfort stand in the way of doing something about it when he could.

He could have cried with relief, however, when Jacob finally called things to a halt and told him that he thought they had all they needed.

"I know it was hard…" the Tok'ra told him as he turned the device off and reached for the metal piece that was stuck in Anthony's temple. "You did great, though."

Anthony winced as the device was pulled from his skin – it hurt a little less than getting it stuck there in the first place, but it still didn't tickle – but didn't know what to say. Everything sounded either flippant, or just plain stupid. He finally settled for simple.

"Thanks."

"Thank _you_," Major Carter told him, standing as well. She had dark circles under her eyes, and looked tired. They all did, he decided. Except for the Jaffa, who hadn't said a single thing the entire two days.

"We're going to let you get some rest," O'Neill told him. "If you need anything, let us know."

Anthony nodded, allowing himself to lean back into the pillows, although his muscles were still tense and his nerves were completely shot. He watched as they all filed out, and it was a measure of how tired he was – or maybe that he'd simply grown a little more comfortable around him – he closed his eyes before the Jaffa had even left the room.

"Need anything?" he heard Janet Fraiser ask, and felt a cool cloth wiping his face.

He shook his head, opening his eyes.

"Just some alone time, I think…"

She nodded.

"We can arrange that. Give the button a push when you're ready to eat."

"I will."

"And try to get some sleep."

"Okay."

He doubted _that_ was going to happen, though. It had been two days, and while they'd taken breaks for rest, any time he closed his eyes he was haunted by the memories he was reliving. Sleep became a time for nightmares – which was getting to be a familiar experience – and he wasn't really interested in facing any of them any time soon.

He closed his eyes, however, knowing that she'd be watching and not wanting to make her worry, because then she'd probably stick around and he knew she was at least as tired as everyone else. Before he even had a chance to worry about the nightmares, he felt himself starting to drift off, and decided that she must have added something to his IV to make him sleep. Before he could decide if he was grateful or annoyed, he was asleep. And this time, there weren't any nightmares.

OOOOOOOOOO

Despite the very late hour, Hammond was in his office when SG-1 and Jacob walked into the briefing room. The General came out immediately, watching as Daniel set several notebooks worth of notes down onto the table.

"Taking a break?"

Jacob shook his head.

"We're done, George. He gave us everything we needed to know."

"And then some," O'Neill added, sitting down.

"How's he doing?"

"About the same."

They'd met up with Hammond during a couple of the breaks and had reported on the deputy's condition as well as they could each time. Fraiser had joined them once, as well, and had given a far more detailed briefing. Nightmares, jittery nerves and inability to eat – none of those were a shock to Jack, who had a much clearer picture now of what Anthony had been through with Ba'al and his Jaffa. Clearly, deputies were not meant to be household slaves.

"Janet told me she was going to give him a sedative when we finished," Sam added. "So he's probably going to get a chance to get some rest, whether he wants to or not."

"He needs it," Daniel said, shaking his head.

Of course, _they_ all needed some sleep, too, but there were other things to take care of first. It was obvious Jacob felt the same way, because he was the next to speak.

"We found out what the weapon is, George, and where it's being developed – more or less."

"More or less?"

"Ba'al didn't give the exact location to the other system lords," Daniel explained. "Just a general idea of where he was building it."

"_We_ had some information that _something_ was going on in the area," Jacob added. "We just didn't realize it had anything to do with a weapon. The operative that I heard about it from thought it was a facility to study Asgard technology – and that was over a month ago."

"What do we do about it?" Hammond asked.

Jack rubbed his chin.

"I'm all for calling Thor in right about now. The Asgard owe us, and this weapon is clearly in violation of the treaty with the system lords. Let them take care of it for us."

Hammond looked over at Jacob.

"What do you think?"

"I think he's right. We can get them close to the right location, and they can take over from there."

The general thought about it, but only for a short moment. He was all for passing this buck to the Asgard. He looked over at Sam.

"Contact the Asgard, Major. We need Thor here as soon as he's willing."

"Yes, sir."


	31. Chapter 31

Knowing that Thor probably wasn't going to appear immediately, Hammond sent all of them off to get some rest. Of course, knowing full well that the Asgard could show up at any time and without warning, those who decided a nap was a good idea went off to find beds on the base where they'd be able to come running when they were needed. Jacob didn't need to sleep, but he knew that if he hung out, Hammond would be inclined to keep him company and he didn't need the company nearly as much as his friend needed some sleep. Instead, he went to the operations room and waited to word from Thor.

OOOOOOOOO

"Colonel?"

Jack O'Neill opened his eyes and found Major Carter crouched down beside the couch he'd fallen asleep on.

"Carter…"

"Thor's here, sir."

O'Neill looked around the room and Carter smiled.

"In the _briefing room_, sir."

"Ah." He levered himself up off the couch and shook his head to wake himself up. Looking at his watch he saw that it had been more than three hours since he'd fallen asleep. "Let's go see what he has to say…"

OOOOOOOO

When they arrived at the briefing room, Thor was already seated at the table. With him in the room were Hammond, Jacob and the rest of SG-1. Daniel was already speaking to Thor, showing the Asgard some of the notes he had taken from Officer Ruff's memories.

"This is serious news, O'Neill," Thor said as Jack and Sam joined them at the table. "That Ba'al is willing to violate the treaty we have so blatantly must mean that he believes he can withstand the consequences of such an act."

Daniel shook his head.

"It's not like that at all, Thor," the archeologist said. "From what he told the others in the summit it's designed to make the destruction of the stargate – and most of the planet – look like it was our own fault."

"So no violation of the treaty," Jacob added.

"I see."

O'Neill decided that Thor looked a little too calm for the situation.

"What are you planning on _doing_ about it?"

The little alien hesitated, but then he looked at Hammond.

"I will need to discuss this with the High Council."

"But you _are_ going to do something, right?" Daniel asked.

"Most likely, yes."

"Most likely?" O'Neill parroted.

"It is not my decision to make. The Asgard will not allow this weapon to be used against your people, however. Of that you may be sure."

"_And_ you're going to kick Ba'al's ass?"

Thor hesitated again, and then gave the Asgard equivalent of a shrug.

"That will be discussed by the High Council."

"The only problem with that is that according to what Ba'al told the others, we don't have tons of time," Jacob told him.

"It will not take long." He looked over at Hammond. "I will return as soon as I have information for you."

With that, there was a flash of light and the Asgard was gone.

The group around the table looked at one another.

"So… that's a _good_ thing, right?" O'Neill asked the table at large.

"Aside from the fact that we're forced to sit around and wait?" Daniel asked.

"There is that," Jacob admitted. "But they know we're on the clock, and it's not like it takes them all that long to get together to talk about something."

Of course, making a decision on the other hand… who knew how that might turn out?

OOOOOOOOOO

"The weapon is ready, my lord."

Ba'al nodded. He'd just arrived on the planet and had immediately sent for the engineers responsible for creating the stargate killer. Anxious to test it on the Tau'ri – if it worked, he had several other targets for similar weapons – he was impatient for an update on the production of the final device. Not to mention, he had a personal score to settle with the Tau'ri – and Daniel Jackson and Colonel O'Neill in particular. Not so much for the loss of a worthless slave, but for the loss of face when they'd managed to infiltrate his summit.

"When will it be ready to deploy?"

The man hesitated, but only for a moment.

"I have only a few more readings to take, to make sure the debris won't be traced back to the weapon itself. A couple of days at the most."

"Unacceptable. I want it sent through the stargate in an hour."

"But my lord, I cannot guarantee that the evidence will be destroyed. The explosion could very well be linked to the weapon instead of cataclysmic failure in the Tau'ri stargate dialing protocols."

"There won't be anyone left to link the two," Ba'al reminded the man with far more patience than he felt. He needed the man a little longer, otherwise he would have killed him on the spot for arguing with him. "Get it ready to send."

"Yes, my lord."

The man bowed low, and turned to go. Ba'al gave a satisfied smirk, but before he make a move to transport himself back to his ship, there was a flash of white light and he suddenly found himself on the bridge of an entirely different vessel. Outraged, he glared at the little alien who moved to stand in front of him.

"You _dare_!"

Another Asgard joined the first.

"Lord Ba'al. Your recent activities have not gone unnoticed. The Earth is subject to the Protected Planet Treaty and the weapon you are building is in direct violation of that treaty."

"What weapon?"

There was another flash of light and suddenly a small, very deadly looking device was sitting on the bridge of the ship in front of Ba'al.

"Prove that it's mine," the system lord told them calmly, which was actually a relief to the Asgard, since it meant that Ba'al wasn't going to try and challenge them directly. Not that the three Asgard ships gathered around Ba'al's ship weren't capable of handling the system lord, they just didn't want to take such extraordinary measures if they could avoid it. It very well could spark an open confrontation between the Goa'uld and the Asgard. One that had an uncertain outcome.

"Are you telling us that it is not yours?" Thor asked.

"Why do I need a weapon to destroy a worthless planet?"

"Then you will not mind if we take it with us…"

The calm façade cracked, and even the Asgard could see that he minded. Very much.

"Of course not," he replied after a moment had stretched into two or three.

"And the files that contain all the necessary information regarding the production of the weapon?" One of the others added as another flash of light heralded the arrival of a large stack of consoles and storage devices that interfaced with Goa'uld technology.

The calm cracked a little further, but Ba'al hadn't managed to get where he was – and survive as long as he had – without learning prudence.

"No. Not at all."

The words were spoken between clenched teeth and his eyes glittered with hate. The Asgard weren't at all concerned. The pile and the weapon vanished in yet another flash of light.

"We will be watching your actions closely, Lord Ba'al," Thor told him. "Do not try our patience."

With that warning, the system lord felt himself dissolving in a bright light, and found himself back on the planet where he'd been. The distant sound of a disturbance told him quite clearly that the Asgard really had taken his weapon away. He scowled, his fists clenched in fury. Even worse than losing the weapon – which was quite a blow considering the amount of time he had invested in it – was the fact that the Asgard were going to be hounding him for who knew how long.

Clearly one of the others had let information from the summit slip – the Tau'ri hadn't been there long enough to hear anything, and Yu's spy had been killed before he could report anything to the Tok'ra. That left one of the other system lords. He would ignore the Tau'ri until the Asgard stopped watching him, but he had other things to occupy him in that time.

Someone would pay.


	32. Chapter 32

Anthony looked up from the newspaper he was reading when Daniel approached his bed. The archeologist was a frequent visitor to the deputy, and an interesting one, really. He was filled with information about all the things Anthony had missed in the last sixteen months – which was a _lot_ – and even more interesting, he had a lot of stories about the activities of SG-1, which was the stargate team Daniel was assigned to. A team that he had quickly learned consisted of Colonel O'Neill, Major Carter and the Jaffa. _Teal'c_. Not _the Jaffa_. According to the stories Daniel told him, Teal'c had helped save the members of his team multiple times and had more than once been the difference in saving the Earth. Those weren't the things that a Jaffa did, as far as Anthony was concerned, but as far as Daniel was concerned – and Ruff knew he was sincere – those _were_ the things that _Teal'c_ did.

It was hard for Anthony to get his mind to grasp that, but he knew that a lot of that was his own inability to forgive the things that had been done to him. After a week in the infirmary the bruises were faded to almost nothing, and the broken bones were itching more than aching – a sign that they were healing, Fraiser had told him. He was getting better, even though he suffered from nightmares and a decided lack of appetite. Not to mention the depression he felt anytime he thought of his wife. When they'd sent a psychiatrist in to see him, however, Anthony had clammed up, refusing to talk to her. The nightmares were his own problem, and the memories of his wife weren't something he wanted to share with anyone.

"How are you feeling today?" Daniel asked him as he approached with another newspaper under one arm and a cup of coffee in the other.

The deputy shrugged, looking for Fraiser to see if she'd sent him to check. He didn't see the doctor, but he already knew that that didn't mean she wasn't around. It was barely after 8 in the morning and she tended to arrive before he was awake, he'd noticed.

"I'm okay, I suppose. How about you?"

"I'm good. How'd you sleep?"

"Fine."

Daniel sat down in the chair beside Anthony's bed.

"Did you really? Or are you just saying that?"

"I woke up a couple of times… This isn't the most comfortable bed."

"Yeah. Janet mentioned she was going to have you moved to different quarters sometime soon."

Anthony sighed.

"Can I ask you something Daniel?"

The archeologist nodded, noticing the change in Anthony's tone that told him the question wasn't going to be what he'd had for breakfast or something equally mundane.

"Sure."

"Are they planning on letting me go?"

"Who? Fraiser?"

"Hammond."

"What do you mean? Of course they're going to let you go."

"Even with all the information I have?"

It had been bothering Anthony for a couple days, now. He knew as much about the stargate operation as anyone, he supposed – especially the exploits of SG-1 – and as far as he could remember from all the shows he'd seen, the government didn't like those secrets to get out. The only way he could think of that they'd be able to assure that he didn't share that information was to keep him where he was – and who knew what kind of methods they'd decide to use once he was healthy? – or to send him offworld somewhere.

"I'm sure they're going to have all sorts of confidentiality papers for you to sign," Daniel told him. "We're not in the habit of keeping prisoners here, though."

He wasn't offended by the question. Really, he wasn't even surprised by it. Anthony was getting healthy, and was already showing signs of restlessness. The archeologist was sure that Hammond had something in mind – or at least had some options available for the man – but whatever they were he hadn't shared them with Daniel. And Daniel hadn't asked.

"When can I leave, then?"

"That's a question you'll have to ask Janet."

"Why her?"

"Because Hammond won't release you until Janet tells him you're healthy."

Ah.

The disappointment must have shown in his expression even though he tried to hide it, because Daniel smiled slightly.

"How about a field trip?" he asked, standing up.

Anthony frowned.

"What?"

"Let me go talk to Janet and see if you can get out of bed for a while. Even if she won't clear you to be released from here, I bet you're healthy enough to get some fresh air. Are you up for it?"

"Go outside?"

Daniel nodded.

"If she says it's okay."

"Sounds great. Go ask."

He'd love some fresh air. Especially Colorado air.

Daniel smiled at his enthusiasm and felt a little guilty for not thinking of the idea a couple of days earlier.

"I'll be right back."

OOOOOOOO

Fraiser was in her office (Daniel knew she was) but she wasn't quite as keen on the idea of allowing her patient outside as Daniel had hoped she would be.

"He's not as healthy as you think he is," she told her friend. "Just because he doesn't look like a punching bag doesn't mean he isn't feeling the ache where the bruising was."

"He's bored, Janet," Daniel said, sincerely. "And God knows how long it's been since he's been out in the sun. It'll be good for him – for his morale."

She hesitated, and he was quick to jump on that hesitation.

"I'll keep a close eye on him. If he even looks like he's in trouble I'll bring him right back…"

The doctor sighed, and rolled her eyes at his puppy-eyed expression.

"Fine. But take some help with you – and make sure he's bundled up."

Daniel smiled.

"Yes, ma'am."


	33. Chapter 33

It was a sunny morning. The sky was clear, there were birds making noises as they went about their daily routine, and the base was far enough away from town that there wasn't any pollution to mar the view. Of course, there were metal fences all around, and military personnel could be seen guarding the area from nosy townspeople, but Anthony didn't care. It was real air, not recycled on board a space ship and not pumped into the mountain. He took several deep breaths, ignoring the fact that it was fairly chilly out. He was wearing his hospital pajamas with a fairly heavy coat over top, so above the waist he was warm, but his legs were already feeling the cold morning.

"Better?" Daniel asked, pleased with himself for thinking of the outing. The deputy looked more content than he'd ever seen him – although there was a lingering hurt in his eyes that Daniel knew wouldn't be driven away with just a sunny morning. He knew how that felt.

"Yeah. Thanks."

They were quiet for a while. Daniel didn't have anywhere he absolutely had to be, and Anthony was just enjoying what he had always taken for granted up until sixteen months before.

Before the cold could drive him back inside – and he really _was_ getting chilled – the door they'd come out of opened once more, and Anthony couldn't help but tense when he saw Teal'c emerge with Colonel O'Neill and Major Carter.

"He's a friend," Daniel reminded him – again – noticing the sudden change in the deputy at the sight of the big Jaffa.

"He's _your_ friend," Anthony corrected him. He did try to relax a little, though, and he had to admit that Teal'c seemed to recognize his unease, because the Jaffa hung back a little from the others when they walked over. It was something Anthony appreciated, and that helped him relax a little more. Luckily, Teal'c didn't seem at all offended by Anthony's lack of enthusiasm.

"Good morning, Officer Ruff…" Jack said by way of greeting, a genuine smile on his face that made Daniel instantly aware that something was going on. Not that Jack was gloomy all the time, but he was in way too good of a mood for so early in the day.

Anthony nodded a greeting of his own.

"Colonel. Good morning major," he added to Sam.

She smiled; glad to see him on his feet and looking far more fit than Janet had led her to believe. As far as Fraiser was concerned, he'd apparently risen from his deathbed to get some fresh air. Of course, Janet was as protective of her patients as Jack was his team.

"Good morning, Anthony."

"We heard from Thor," Jack said before anything else could be said.

Daniel was interested immediately. Since Thor normally set Jack on edge far more often than not, it had to be something interesting, especially considering his mood.

"Yeah? What did he have to say?"

"Seems like the council got together and decided to go have a talk with Ba'al."

"Did they kill him?" Anthony asked. Not surprisingly, Anthony really didn't care much more for the Asgard than he did for the Jaffa – although Daniel had explained that Loki had not been acting on behalf of the rest of his race when he'd abducted the deputy. It didn't help much, but Anthony could appreciate the fact that the Asgard were pretty much the only thing the Ghouls seemed to have any kind of respect for.

"Nah."

He didn't seem too upset about it, though, Daniel decided. Which meant that whatever they had done must have been pretty good.

"What _did_ they do?" Daniel asked, knowing Jack was waiting for him to ask, and too interested to wait him out.

"They took away his toy and all his research on it and then told him they were going to be looking over his shoulder."

"That's it?" Anthony asked, not at all impressed.

"Lord Ba'al will have lost much face in losing his weapon to the Asgard," Teal'c said, speaking up for the first time. "It will be even worse for him to know the Asgard are watching him, because he will be unable to conduct the type of undertakings which enable him to maintain and enlarge his present power structure for an unforeseeable amount of time."

Anthony hesitated. He'd been a little too caught up in the novelty of having a Jaffa actually speak to him without beating on him to really pay attention to what Teal'c had been saying. By the time he'd started following along, he'd found himself unable to. He looked over at Sam, uncertain.

"He'll have to behave himself," she told him with a smile. "Because he knows the Asgard won't let him get away with making too much of a nuisance of himself."

"For a while at least," Jack added, smugly.

"Well that's good then," Daniel said, looking over at Anthony, who shrugged.

"I still wish they would have just killed him."

"They couldn't," Sam told him, understanding the deep hatred behind the statement. The deputy had been put through a lot of awful things because of Ba'al and his Jaffa, after all. "There was too much of a chance that the Goa'uld might go on the offensive if the Asgard pressed them into it by killing one of their system lords."

Anthony just scowled. He hated politics here on Earth – he certainly wasn't going to embrace alien politics.

"But we're safe – for a while, anyway," Jack told him. "That's something."

"Thanks to Anthony," Daniel pointed out.

"I didn't do anything," the deputy told him. "I was just in the wrong place at the right time. I didn't even know what was being said around me."

O'Neill shrugged.

"I get that feeling a lot around here."

That coupled with an exasperated look he flashed towards Carter made Anthony smile. He'd already figured out that she was about as brilliant as they came, it was probably hard to keep up with her – especially when O'Neill was her CO.

"We should probably head back in," Daniel said, giving the deputy an appraising look. He was cold and wearing more clothing than Anthony, so the officer was probably chilled. "Janet will kill me if you catch a cold."

"I'm not going to catch a cold," Anthony replied. He didn't argue about going inside, though. He wasn't dumb enough to stay out in the cold if he didn't have to – no matter how great the fresh air felt and smelled. He could always come back.

Probably.

"So I don't have to mention that Fraiser sent us up here to check and make sure you're on your way back to bed?" Jack asked.

"No."

"Good. See if she'll let you come to the commissary and you can have breakfast with us."

There was only the slightest hesitation before Anthony nodded.

"Okay."

With that, the deputy turned to go, leaving the others – who were far better dressed for the chill – to head back down at their leisure.

As soon as the door closed Daniel looked over at Jack.

"He might not have wanted to eat with us, you know…"

O'Neill nodded.

"I know."

"Not to mention he's not very comfortable around Teal'c," Sam added with an apologetic look at her friend.

"Which is exactly why he needs to spend some time with him," Jack said, heading for the door as well.

"Why?" Daniel asked, following.

"Because Hammond wants him to."

Daniel gave Teal'c a questioning look, but the Jaffa didn't explain – or even give an indication that he _could_ explain.

"They are serving French toast today."

"Oh."

Sam patted his shoulder as he held the door for her and the look she gave him was completely amused – although he knew that she didn't know what was going on anymore than he did. She was just going to roll with the flow, apparently.

And Daniel didn't seem to have much choice but to do the same. He shrugged and went inside.

The SGC was filled with secrets, after all. At least this one didn't have the fate of the world hanging on it.


	34. Chapter 34

Janet Fraiser put a blood pressure cuff around her patient's arm with a slight frown.

"Breakfast?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"I can have someone bring you whatever it is you want…"

Anthony shook his head.

"I don't want to eat in bed, Janet. I need to get out a little."

She ignored him for a minute while she finished taking his blood pressure and recording it onto his chart. Anthony shifted a bit, trying to ease a stitch in his side that had started hurting on his way back to the infirmary. Nothing to worry about, he knew, just from being in bed so long without any real exercise. But he didn't tell Janet, because she'd think he was dying or something and then he'd never get out of the infirmary. Much less off the base.

"Your blood pressure's a little high."

"I feel fine." He reached out and intercepted her hand as she reached for a thermometer to take his temperature. "Please? Just for a while?"

His expression was mingled hope and entreaty – which was a lot better than seeing grief and depression like she had been seeing for the past few days – and he'd taken her by surprise when he'd taken her hand. That wasn't something the military guys would dare do, she knew. The younger ones were afraid of her and the older ones respected her too much to risk her misconstruing the action as something it wasn't. Certainly Anthony wasn't coming onto her. He just wanted breakfast.

She sighed.

"Fine. You can go. But I don't want you gone all morning."

He grinned.

"Deal."

"And you come back if you're not feeling well…"

"Okay."

"And you-"

"Can I have some clothes?"

Being interrupted wasn't something she appreciated, but she allowed it this time. The last thing he needed was a lecture, after all. She took her hand back and turned toward one of her orderlies.

"Sergeant?"

OOOOOOOOOO

"He's not going to come," Daniel said, pouring syrup on his French toast.

"He'll come," Jack replied. "Fraiser's not going to keep him in bed forever."

"He might not want to come, O'Neill," Teal'c pointed out, already digging into his own meal – which was twice as much food as Daniel had on his plate. "My presence makes him uncomfortable."

"It's not you, Teal'c," Daniel reminded him. "It's Jaffa in general."

"You can't really blame him," Sam added. "You saw what he looked like when we-"

"_Ha!"_

O'Neill's triumphant snort made all of them look at him, but he was looking at the entrance to the commissary. Standing in the doorway was Deputy Ruff, dressed in a spare set of BDUs and accompanied by one of Fraiser's orderlies, who had probably been assigned to show him the way. Jack got up and walked over.

"She let you go, huh?"

Anthony smiled slightly.

"It took some fast talking."

"And a promise to go right back if you started feeling sick?"

"Is that the voice of experience talking, Colonel?"

Jack grinned, and looked at the orderly.

"I've got him, Sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

As his team watched Jack took Anthony over to get him a tray – and then a decent meal – and brought him back to their table. They weren't the only ones watching, though, because the others in the room all knew who Anthony was as well, and all of them were interested in him. Some because they felt sorry for him because of what had happened to him and the fact that his homecoming had turned out to be so tragic, some because they knew what he'd been through and were impressed by what he'd suffered through at the hands of the Jaffa and still made it home.

Anthony was clearly uncomfortable with the attention so Jack hustled him back to the table as quickly as he could. Not surprisingly, the deputy took the seat across from Teal'c and as far away as he could be and still be seated at the same table. The Jaffa simply nodded a greeting and went back to eating, giving Anthony a chance to get over being so close.

"Not hungry?" Daniel asked, gesturing towards Anthony's plate. There wasn't much on it, just some toast and a pile of scrambled eggs. "I'd have figured you'd be starving after being in the infirmary so long."

"It's not like they don't feed you in the infirmary," Sam told him with a smile.

"It's not the same though," the archeologist replied. "It's still _hospital_ food, after all."

"And you don't get so much selection," Ruff agreed, spreading strawberry preserves on his toast. Not to mention they kept tabs on how much you were eating and nagged if you didn't finish something. He didn't like that much structure just then, after having someone looking over his shoulder so much on Ball's ship. It was for his benefit, he knew, but it was still uncomfortable. He didn't say that, though. Instead he concentrated on eating, just glad to be upright for a change.

Before he finished, however, Teal'c spoke.

"Officer Ruff, I would ask you a question, if you permitted?"

Which was intended to allow him the chance to say no and avoid a conversation with him. Anthony hesitated a moment, but he finally shrugged.

"Go ahead."

"I have seen the television show COPS. It does not explain the difference between a sheriff's deputy and a regular police officer…"

Anthony looked a little baffled at the question, and Sam wondered what was going through his mind. She didn't have to wait long to find out.

"You watch TV?"

Daniel smiled, but allowed Teal'c to answer. He had a feeling the Jaffa was trying to break the ice with the deputy and a mundane conversation was a good way to do it, hopefully.

"Indeed. Originally it was intended to give me the opportunity to learn about the people of your world. However, I have long since realized that many programs are simply fantasy or fiction. COPS, however, is real, is it not?"

Anthony nodded, his toast forgotten for the moment.

"Pretty much." He switched to the original question. "A regular police officer tends to have a _city_ as his or her jurisdiction. A sheriff and the deputies patrol a larger area – almost always a county." He chewed on his toast for a moment to clear his mouth. "But the city guys can make arrests or issue citations in the county, just like we can do the same in the city – and we back them up and they back us up when it's needed."

"Like different SG teams," Teal'c said. "They have their own missions, but if others are needed they are quick to assist."

Since he wasn't completely sure that was true – although he thought it probably was – he shrugged, but nodded.

"Most likely."

O'Neill nodded his agreement, and started eating, but Teal'c had never had an actual police officer to talk to and if Ruff was willing, the Jaffa was going to learn as much as he could about them. COPS was one of the more interesting shows on TV late at night when the base was usually quiet, so it was one Teal'c watched a lot.

"Have you ever chased a drunken suspect?"

"Too many times."

"Is it like in the show?" Daniel asked, curiously.

Anthony nodded. Seeing the interest in both Daniel and Teal'c's expressions, he set his fork down and started to tell them about a couple of his more interesting pursuits. They weren't _amazing_, of course, but they did end with the good guys getting the bad guys and no innocent people getting hurt – which was always best.

Carter looked over at her CO, who gave her a smug smile. The deputy was talking to the Jaffa. A very good start.


	35. Chapter 35

After breakfast – and a fairly long discussion about all things police related – O'Neill delivered Anthony personally back to the infirmary. Fraiser ushered the deputy back to bed – but he refused to change out of the actual clothing he was wearing and back into pajamas – and told him he needed to rest for a while. As annoyed as he was at being mother-henned by the doctor, he had to admit (and _only_ to himself) that he really was glad to have a chance to lie down for a while. His head hurt, the stitch in his side was worse than it had been, and he was hard-pressed to not lose the breakfast he'd eaten to the nausea he felt. He figured it was the change of diet finally getting to him now that he was eating more solid food, and assumed (rightly so) that Fraiser would subject him to a million more tests if he mentioned it to her, so he kept it to himself.

Janet wasn't the doctor she was for nothing, however. There was no disguising the wince when he returned to his bed, and she could tell by his elevated blood pressure and temperature that something wasn't right. Rather than confront him with it, she simply took a blood sample, telling him that there were a few more tests she wanted to run before she'd release him from her care. He probably wasn't fooled, she decided – he was a police officer, after all – but he didn't argue with her. Instead, he dozed off almost before she withdrew the needle. She covered him up and left him to sleep. Then she and her staff went to work.

OOOOOOOO

"How'd it go?"

"They weren't dancing a two-step together, but he's finally stopped flinching or tensing up every time Teal'c speaks or moves."

Hammond nodded and leaned back in his chair.

"That's a good start, Colonel."

O'Neill nodded.

"I thought so, too. As much as I like a healthy respect of the Jaffa in the people around here, I don't like having them so cautious."

"He has good reason to be cautious."

"Oh, I know, sir. It's not his fault. Teal'c's willing to help out, so we'll take it as quickly as we can without pressing the issue, and see if we can get him over the worst of it. Time will have to do the rest."

"Are you going to go have lunch with him?"

"No. Fraiser's right. He's not as healthy as he thinks he is – or would like to be. He looked pretty pale by the time we were on our way back to the infirmary."

Which elicited a frown from his commanding officer.

"I'll check in with Fraiser to see what she knows about it," he said. "Meantime, your team can stand down for a couple of days."

"Oh?"

"Doctor Jackson wants to go to Denver with his new assistant."

"Kira?"

"Yes."

"Really?"

Hammond scowled.

"No, I'm making this all up just so you'll waste my time asking me questions about it, Colonel."

"Sorry, sir. Did Daniel mention _why_ he wants to take this sudden trip?"

"No. I didn't ask. He didn't mention it to you?"

"This is the first I've heard of it."

Obviously.

"You'll have to ask him," Hammond told him. "Dismissed, Colonel."

"Yes, sir."

He rose from his chair and headed out the door, already trying to figure out where Daniel would be.

OOOOOOOO

It turned out to be too late. Daniel was gone. Kira was gone, as well, Jack found out when he went looking for her. When he called up to the gate he found out that they'd left together right after breakfast. He grumbled about that a bit – in his line of work he hated mysteries – and went to see if Carter knew anything he didn't. (Besides the fact that she knew a whole lot of things he didn't)

When he found her in her lab a short while later, however, she was just as baffled.

"He didn't tell _you_ he was leaving?"

"No, sir. Any idea why he's gone?"

"Nope. Otherwise I wouldn't be here asking you."

Good point.

"I wish I could help you."

He muttered something she couldn't understand and wandered out of the room. Carter watched for a second, just to make sure he wasn't going to come back and ask her something else, and then bent over her work once more. She wasn't worried about Daniel. It wasn't like they were off-world after all. He could handle himself in Denver. Besides, he had Kira with him. She could keep him out of trouble. Most likely.

OOOOOOOO

The first sign of real trouble was when one of Fraiser's staff went to take Anthony's blood pressure for a routine check. The deputy didn't wake from his nap when she took his arm, didn't wake when the cuff started expanding around his bicep, and when she frowned and tried to wake him – just to make sure he was okay – he didn't respond to her verbal or physical probing.

"Doctor…"

Fraiser was there in an instant, cued by the concern in the lieutenant's voice. Without waiting to see what was wrong – she knew what an unconscious patient looked like, after all – she grabbed her stethoscope and checked his heart. The beats were erratic and weak.

"What the hell…?"

She stepped back and started barking out orders. The monitor that had been pushed to the side when Anthony had been allowed out of bed were brought back and the deputy was once more hooked to them. They immediately told her what she'd already discovered.

Her patient, for all that he'd been up and out of bed only a few hours before, was suddenly in a lot of trouble.


	36. Chapter 36

"What's wrong with him doctor?"

Janet Fraiser sighed, setting the medical chart on her desk long enough to rub tired eyes.

"I don't know, sir. He's not responding to anything we try."

Hammond frowned.

"He was on his feet only this morning."

"I know, sir. He wasn't showing any sign of this… whatever it is… this morning. He looked a little tired after his trip up top with Daniel, but I wouldn't have allowed him out of his bed again if we'd seen any sign of something so serious."

"I know that, Doctor."

Hammond trusted her completely with the people under his command. She'd proven long since that she was deserving of that trust. He could see just how frustrated she looked now, though, and he wished he had some way to help.

"He looked pretty tired after breakfast," O'Neill said. "Before, when he came into the commissary he looked fine, but he was dragging by the time we were done eating – even though he was trying to hide it."

"Did he eat anything unusual?" Janet asked, already knowing the answer. She'd already ruled out allergies.

"Eggs and toast – and not a lot of either."

"Is he allergic maybe?" Hammond asked.

She shook her head, gesturing to a file that was sitting on the edge of her desk.

"I've already been through his medical history, sir."

She'd done that when he'd arrived in her care. There was no way she'd risk losing a patient to something stupid, after all, like a latex allergy or something.

"Something airborne?" O'Neill asked.

"No one else is sick," she pointed out. "Something this serious would be knocking down more than one person."

"Except that he's been on a space ship for almost a year," Jack reminded her. "Maybe there's a difference in the quality of the air?"

"There is, Colonel, but it's not enough to flatten him – and even if it was, it would have happened right after we rescued him and brought him here."

Good point.

Jack looked over at Hammond, but he didn't have any other suggestions. Even the ones he'd had weren't that great.

"Perhaps there is something lacking in the air here that was present when he was with Ba'al," Teal'c said, speaking up for the first time. "Something that did not have any affect on Officer Ruff until recently."

"Like what?" Janet asked.

"I am uncertain. I have heard of system lords performing unusual experiments on their slaves, however, perhaps Ba'al has done something to Deputy Ruff."

"Or _all_ of them," Jack said, shrugging. "Maybe it's like that lysine thing in Jurassic Park…"

All of them looked over at him with blank stares.

"What lysine thing?" Janet asked.

"The dinosaurs were all fed a protein – or maybe it was an enzyme, I don't remember – and they were dependent on it. If they didn't get any – and it was only available on the island – then they'd die. It was a failsafe in case one of them escaped."

"I do not remember any such scene in the movie, O'Neill," Teal'c told him.

"That's because it's in the book," Jack told him. "It turned out it didn't work, because the dinosaurs found other things to eat that had this protein, or enzyme, or whatever, but what if Ba'al did something like that to Anthony?"

"Why would he do that?" Hammond asked, looking at O'Neill like he was crazy.

"Because he's a _Goa'uld_?" Jack asked, holding back the sarcasm in deference to the fact that Hammond was a general – and his friend. "That's what they do, right?"

Fraiser frowned and looked over at Teal'c.

"What do you think?"

"I have never heard of such a circumstance," the Jaffa admitted. "However, that does not mean it is not the case."

"It would have shown up by now, though…" she said, more to herself than to them.

"Unless he wanted whatever runaway slave or whatever to suffer slowly," O'Neill pointed out. He was well aware of the cruelties of the system lords, after all. Especially after almost taking a very extended trip with Teal'c in a hijacked X-301.

"Or perhaps the medications you have been giving him have kept the symptoms at bay until now," Teal'c added.

The doctor nodded, her mind already running through possibilities. By now she was pretty much ready to grasp at any straw she could.

"I took some blood samples earlier. I'll compare them to the samples I took when he arrived to see if there's anything different. She picked up her chart, anxious to get started now that she had a course of action – even if it proved way off base from what was really happening. "I'll let you know what – if anything – I find."

Hammond stood as well.

"You do that, Doctor. And if there's anything I can do…"

Which he knew there wasn't. She had a very good staff around her. The best thing he could do was to leave her – and them – alone so they could work.

"I'll keep you informed, sir."

OOOOO

_Author's note: The name of the enzyme from the book might be wrong. I couldn't find my copy to double check it and was going by memory (and I haven't read it in a long time!_


	37. Chapter 37

He was floating. It _felt_ like he should be in a lot of pain – and every now and then there was a sharp ache from somewhere deep inside his stomach or his chest – but really, he didn't feel much of anything. From a detached part of his mind, he was pretty sure that was a bad thing, this lack of pain. Pain, after all, tells you that you're alive. At least that was what a couple of his friends had once told him – one of them after he'd been shot by a drug runner he'd pulled over on a routine traffic stop.

He was pretty sure he was alive. He could feel his heart beating. Every now and then he could feel it skip a beat, too. It didn't hurt, though. It just gave him a lightheaded feeling for a moment and then left him breathless. It wasn't _normal_, he knew, but he was detached enough that it didn't worry him, either.

"Anthony…?"

He heard a far away voice, and thought it was Doctor Fraiser's. It was female. He wasn't sure, though, and couldn't get enough strength gathered to open his eyes and find out. Or maybe he was afraid that if he _did_ open his eyes he'd find that he wasn't really in the infirmary of the SGC. The rescue from Ball's ship had been some kind of injury-induced fantasy. It wouldn't have been the first time, although this one had been very real. _Too_ real in some respects, because he'd never before dreamed that Cathy had died. Every other time he'd pictured her waiting for him on the front porch wearing a welcoming smile – and sometimes nothing else.

She was dead. He was certain it wasn't a dream. There was no way his mind would have her dead in his own fantasy. Even in the bleakest of times – and there'd been many. None so bleak as now, though. Without Cathy he was nothing. He felt his heart skip another beat, and this time hoped that it wouldn't catch the rhythm again. Why bother? He felt his eyes burn and the tickle of a tear sliding down his temple into his hair somewhere. After a momentary stutter, his heart picked up the beat and he held his breath while he waited for the odd sensation to pass once more.

Something wet and cool brushed along his forehead.

"Anthony… it's okay."

The tear was wiped away by the same cool cloth, and he forced himself to open his eyes, certain now who he was going to see.

Janet Fraiser gave the deputy a forced smile when he finally opened his eyes, trying very hard to maintain her bedside manner. He was failing fast, and after almost ten hours since his collapse, she still didn't have a clue why. She was taking a break, waiting for the last of the blood tests she'd ordered, and had come to sit near him as if hoping to find the answer she needed. It hadn't come to her. All she'd seen was a tear that told her he was more alert than she thought he was – despite the fact that she'd tried to get him to respond to her voice.

"Hey…"

She ran the cloth along his forehead and down his cheek to his chest. His temperature was running a little high, but it wasn't dangerous yet, and she was anxious to keep it that way.

He tried to swallow, but his throat was dry.

"Hi…"

It was all he could manage, and at that it ended in a cough.

"Try not to speak," she told him, reaching for a cup of water with a straw and pressing the straw against his lips. "Take a sip, but not too much."

He complied, and managed to sip about a fourth of the cup – which was all she was willing to allow him just then. His kidneys hadn't shut down yet, but his heart and lungs were failing slowly but surely, and she was worried about putting any strain on his other organs for fear they'd all fail at once. If that happened, there was no way she'd be able to keep him alive.

"We're trying to figure out what's making you so sick," she told him, setting the cup back on the small table. "You need to hold on until we figure it out. Okay?"

She held the cloth gently over his mouth, and he knew it meant that he wasn't supposed to answer her verbally. He nodded, knowing it was what she wanted to see, and then closed his eyes again. He was off Ball's ship, but Cathy really was dead. Never had he ever so truly understood the phrase bittersweet before. Another tear joined the first.

"Doctor? The results are back from the last tests."

Fraiser wiped Officer Ruff's face once more, wishing she had more than just words to give him. Something was killing him, and something else was hurting him.

"Set them on my desk," she ordered. "I'll be right there."

OOOOOOOOO

"Any luck?"

Sam shook her head, hanging up her phone.

"He's not answering."

"Did you try _Kira's_ phone?"

"She's not answering, either."

"Think we should go look for them?"

Sam frowned.

"It's _Denver_, sir. We could look for days and not find them."

O'Neill scowled.

"What the hell was he thinking, leaving like that?"

"When he left, Anthony was on his feet and looking fit."

"And now he's _dying_," Jack snapped. "Do you know how…" he searched for the right phrase and she knew by his expression he hadn't found it. "How messed up he's going to be when he comes back and Anthony's dead?"

"He's not dead, yet, sir."

"He's not going to last long at the rate things are going…"

Before Carter could respond to that, Hammond appeared at the door.

"Were you able to contact Doctor Jackson, Major?"

Sam shook her head.

"No, sir. I'll keep trying."

"You do that." He looked at both of them, and Carter thought he looked tired. Tired and defeated, she amended. Clearly he didn't think much of Anthony's chances for surviving, either. "There's nothing you two can do here… it's late, go home."

Jack shook his head.

"We'll stick around, sir. Just in case Fraiser needs us for something."

The general nodded. He wasn't going to force the issue.

"Call me if you get in touch with Doctor Jackson."

"Yes, sir."


	38. Chapter 38

Janet Fraiser wasn't asleep at her desk, but she was very close to it. Her head resting in one hand with her elbow propping that hand up so she could look at the results from the plethora of tests she'd run on Anthony, her eyes were closed and her mind was numb with exhaustion. She needed the sleep, but she was frustrated and baffled, and both were keeping her from leaving her office to find a place to crash for a few hours.

"Doctor Fraiser?"

She looked up, startled, and found Jacob Carter standing at the door to her office. The Tok'ra had a small case in his hands and moved into the room when she waved him in.

"General Carter," she greeted him, hoping that maybe the Tok'ra had some idea of what was wrong with her patient – although she knew that was probably not the case. Sam had mentioned giving her dad a call to see if he knew of any kind of experiments the system lords might have used on humans before. Since she was already grasping at straws, she was more than willing to take any help she could get.

"Jacob, please. I came as soon as I could."

"Please tell me you have some idea what might be wrong with Officer Ruff…?"

He shook his head.

"We – and by we, I mean _Selmak and I_ – haven't had a chance to look at him yet. But we're here to help – and we brought some equipment that might give us a better range of results than the equipment here in the SGC."

He held up the case he was holding.

"I've done every test I can think of," Janet told him, reaching out and holding up the stack of test results. "Most of them more than once. Colonel O'Neill had an idea that maybe Ba'al had done some kind of test or experiment on him that might have changed his body chemistry to a point where he couldn't survive away from the ship – or maybe even Ba'al himself, but if that's the case, I'm not seeing it."

"Jack thought of that, huh?" Jacob asked, walking over and peering down at the stack of papers.

"He read it in a book."

"_Jurassic Park_," Jacob said, nodding. "I read that one, too."

"The problem is, as dumb as it sounds, it wasn't a bad theory."

"You've cross-referenced these results with the tests you ran on him when he arrived?"

She nodded.

"It was the first thing I did. There are some differences, of course, but as far as I can tell, it's a result of the new symptoms, not because of any change in body chemistry."

"Nothing from his medical files from before he was grabbed by Loki that might explain it?"

She shook her head.

"Nothing."

"Well… let us run some tests of our own," he said, setting the case on her desk and opening it. She saw several small devices, but none that she recognized. All of them looked quite alien – which only made sense, she supposed. "These might show us things that your CT scans and MRIs might have missed."

No one liked to be told that their equipment wasn't good enough to do the job, but Janet was more than willing to let that pass. Especially since he had equipment that she didn't.

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

The Tok'ra shook his head.

"Just tell your staff not to kick us out when we start setting up."

She gave him a tired smile, but before she could mention that they'd hardly get kicked out with her standing there watching them, Jacob spoke up again. Only this time his voice was much deeper and she knew it was the symbiote speaking.

"You should get some rest, Doctor. Our tests will take some time, and you look exhausted."

"I'm fine," she told him – _them_. There was no way she'd be able to sleep, no matter how tired she was. "I'll go set up a workstation for you."

The last thing he was going to do was argue with the doctor in her own infirmary.

"Near Officer Ruff, if you would," Jacob requested, his voice back to normal now. "That way we can keep track of what we're learning."

"Certainly."

She just hoped they'd learn more than she'd managed to.

OOOOOOOOO

Daniel Jackson was tired. The drive to Denver hadn't been all that long, but his day had been filled with meetings at several different agencies all around the city, and minor city officials and politicians – all of which could only be told so much about the current situation but argued that they should know much, much more. Which meant that he'd needed to use all the tact and diplomacy that he had at his command – which was a fair amount, he had to admit, smugly. Spending so much time with Jack had certainly paid off. He'd managed to do everything he and Kira had set out to do that morning – even though the last of the meetings had finished only an hour or so before, and had been the hardest one of the day.

But he'd gotten what he'd come for.

It was too late to drive home – and he was too tired to even want to try. He wasn't the only one. Kira looked just as tired – and smug – as he felt. So instead of risking the chance of falling asleep behind the wheel, they'd just decided to stay in Denver and get an early start the next morning. He'd gotten them each a hotel room and had told her to order whatever she wanted from room service rather than have the two of them try to find an all night café somewhere. It was just easier that way.

As he undressed he debated calling and checking on Anthony, but a quick look at his watch told him it was way too late to do that. It was after midnight, and everything would be quiet in the infirmary. No sense in bothering anyone when he'd see the guy the next morning, anyway. Opening the laptop case he'd been carrying around all day, he pulled out one of the files he'd been fleshing out during each meeting. He sat down on his bed and opened the file, and smiled.

The baby was absolutely adorable. Blonde hair and blue eyes, the foster family who had been taking care of him since his mother's death had told Daniel that he had a sunny personality and seemed to be developing at exactly the pace that the pediatrician had told them he should be. They'd been sorry to hear that they were losing him, which had been another reason Daniel had decided to wait until morning to leave – to give them a chance to say their goodbyes without him and Kira hovering over them.

"Agustin Anthony Ruff…" Daniel murmured to the picture. "You're a cute kid, Auggie."

He put the file down and noticed for the first time that his cell phone had been on vibrate all day. When he picked it up, he saw that there were a number of missed calls – probably from Jack and Sam trying to figure out where he'd vanished to, he decided with a smile. They'd be surprised – but nowhere near as surprised as Anthony would be. He set the phone aside – the messages could wait until morning. He was tired.

Tomorrow would be a good day.


	39. Chapter 39

Despite her best intentions, Janet didn't stay awake long enough to watch all of the tests Jacob and Selmak ran on Anthony. She drew them a sample of blood to work with – better to have a fresh one that had no chance of contamination, she told them – and watched from an unobtrusive spot on the bed beside the sleeping deputy's as Selmak began dividing the sample into smaller parts and running them into one of their devices.

Whatever was being discussed between the symbiote and host was being said silently, so Janet only had the sounds of the machinery that was monitoring Anthony's condition to keep her company, and it was a hypnotic noise that had her dozing off almost immediately. It helped, of course, that she hadn't had any sleep in two days. She shook herself mentally, trying to wake up a bit more when Jacob began running some kind of scanning device over Anthony, but the device itself gave off a slight humming noise that was just as soothing and before she realized it she was leaning against the upright part of the bed, propped up with a couple of pillows. Her eyes closed – only for a moment, she told herself – and that was it.

When Jacob looked over, she was asleep. He quietly covered her with a blanket and went back to what he'd been doing.

OOOOOOOO

Anthony woke suddenly, jolted by something that felt a bit like sticking his finger into a light socket. He opened his eyes and immediately wished he'd done so a little more gradually. The light in the infirmary was low, but his head was killing him and it seemed as bright as a sunny day. He closed them again, tightly, and grunted in pain. Everything hurt now that he was awake enough to realize it.

"Easy…"

The low voice was one he didn't recognize, but when he opened his eyes again he saw Jacob Carter beside his bed. The Tok'ra was holding some kind of device that was pointed at him.

"What's that?"

It came out as a croak, but he must have been able to understand him, because he gave him what Anthony decided was supposed to be a reassuring smile.

"It's a scanning device," he replied. "We use it to check for Goa'uld in people."

The deputy frowned.

"You think I have a _Ghoul_?"

He was pretty sure he'd know if that was the case. If not for Daniel's stories he wouldn't even know that a Ghoul was a snake inside a regular person. He'd always assumed the Ghouls were a different race of people. An _evil_ race, of course.

"No. We'd have caught that when we were watching your memories. But the scanner can search for other things, as well."

The adrenaline rush from being nearly electrocuted was wearing off quickly, and Anthony leaned back into the pillows.

"Like what?"

His breath caught for absolutely no reason and he felt a sharp pain in his chest at the sudden motion. Jacob waited for the pained expression to ease a bit, knowing there wasn't anything he could do to help.

"We're hoping it will find whatever it is that's killing you."

"Has it?"

"Not yet."

The deputy closed his eyes.

"But we're _going_ to," another voice cut in. Janet Fraiser had woken during the conversation and had been quick to join it. Plagued by the sudden illness added to the loss of his wife, she was worried about his emotional state almost as much as she was his health. Jacob wasn't doing much to bolster her patient, but that wasn't _his_ job. It was hers.

He opened his eyes again, looking over at her. Almost as if he understood what she was doing - and he probably did, she decided – he gave a slight nod.

"Okay…"

He closed his eyes again, too tired to try and maintain a conversation, and Janet looked at her watch. It was almost six in the morning. She'd slept more than four hours.

"Any luck?"

The Tok'ra frowned at a readout on the device in his hand.

"Maybe. Can I see a blood sample from when he arrived here?"

She nodded.

"Come into my office."

OOOOOOOOO

Sam Carter walked into the infirmary at exactly seven o'clock. She knew that only because she looked at a clock on the wall when she entered. Looking like she'd just gotten out of the shower – mainly because she had – she looked around for Janet, hoping that there'd be some good news. She'd forced herself to stay away from the infirmary all night assuming that the last thing Janet needed was her and Colonel O'Neill hovering in the background nagging her for updates every few minutes, but after a restless evening with no new updates she was hoping for some information now.

Janet was in her office with her dad, she saw immediately. The door was closed and they were clearly busy. Instead of bothering them and getting in the way, she wandered over to Anthony's bedside. The deputy appeared to be asleep. He also appeared to be a lot sicker than he'd looked when Sam had seen him last. She glanced at the monitors attached to him, but they didn't tell her much – actually, they probably _were_, she just didn't know what they were saying.

"How's he doing?"

She almost jumped out of her skin when Colonel O'Neill spoke from behind her, but she managed to hide it – mostly. She turned and saw that he looked rumpled and sleepy – most likely he'd fallen asleep in his office.

"I don't know," she answered, softly. "Not good, if I had to guess."

Jack nodded, looking over at Janet's office. Clearly he was debating whether or not to bother her.

"Did you get hold of Daniel last night?"

"I stopped trying around ten."

"I'll try to reach him. You wait around until Fraiser comes out and see what you can find out."

She nodded.

OOOOOOO

They'd left early. Once he'd had a chance to get a few hours of rest, Daniel was anxious to get Agustin and introduce him to Anthony. He couldn't wait to see the look on the deputy's face when he found out he had a son. Luckily, Kira had been very forgiving when he'd knocked on her door just before daylight, and she'd only grumbled a little under her breath when he'd told her that they could just stop and find something for breakfast on the road instead of getting something before they left. A quick stop to pick up the baby and his supplies – which were piled into the trunk of the car – and they were on the way back to the SGC by seven in the morning.

Daniel's cell phone rang almost as soon as he pulled onto the interstate. In deference to the sleeping baby – and Kira, who looked about ready to fall asleep again – he answered it quickly.

"Daniel Jackson."

"Where the hell are you?"

"Jack?"

"Who else would it be?" Came the reply. He could hear frustration and annoyance in his friend's voice, and wondered if it were directed at him or if he was just a handy outlet. "Where are you?"

"We're on our way back from Denver."

"You need to get here quick, Daniel."

Now the annoyance was gone, which made Daniel worry.

"Why? What's wrong?"

"Anthony's had a change in his condition."

"What?" Kira's head came up at the concern in Daniel's voice. "What kind of change? What happened?"

"We don't know. It doesn't look good, though, so get back here. Just in case."

Daniel hesitated, looking in the rearview mirror at the car seat that was situated behind Kira.

"Okay."

What the hell was he going to do about the baby, though?


	40. Chapter 40

_Author's Note: This next chapter is co-written by me and Dietcokechic. I thought it'd be fun to have her write Kira a little, and luckily, she agreed!_

OOOOOOOOOOO

"_Me_?" Kira asked incredulously. "You want me to care for a baby?"

"It would just be for a day or two Kira," Daniel said, trying to make it sound like no big deal. "Besides, it isn't like he's a newborn, or anything."

Kira looked behind her at the sleeping 8-month old and sighed.

"Daniel, the kid isn't even eating solids yet – that sure sounds like a baby to me."

"Toddler?" Daniel tried hopefully.

"_Baby_," Kira answered without hesitation. "You're placing someone's baby in the care of a 25 year old single woman who last changed a diaper back in the Bush administration." Before Daniel could say the obvious, Kira continued. "The _first _Bush administration."

"Look Kira," Daniel said plainly. "Not to quote _Star Wars_ on you or anything, but you're my only hope."

Kira snorted from her seat. She hadn't pegged Daniel as a science fiction watcher.

"Daniel, you have the whole SGC at your disposal, how in the heck can I be your only hope?"

"But that's just it," Daniel said energetically. "You're the only person I know who can watch little Auggie for a day or two while I work things out with the General."

Kira looked at Daniel skeptically.

"I thought you said General Hammond knew what was going on."

Daniel looked sheepish.

"He knows we went to Denver to check on a lead I had, but he might not have known _all_ the details…"

"_Daniel!"_ In the backseat the baby made a snorting sucking sound. Kira lowered her voice. "Daniel, did you not tell anyone that you were going to Denver to pick up Officer Ruff's son?"

"Ummm…"

Kira sighed and sank back into her seat.

"Ascension really didn't change you all that much, did it?"

"Is that a yes?" he asked, hopefully.

Another sigh, and another glance into the back seat.

"Yes."

OOOOOOOOOO

"How long was he with Ba'al?" Jacob asked Fraiser after studying the blood samples she'd taken from Anthony when he'd arrived at the SGC for almost twenty minutes. He'd been completely silent, but she knew he was almost certainly discussing things with his symbiote.

"Almost a year. Before that he was placed with a population of desert dwellers on a planet that is part of the Protected Planets treaty the Asgard have with the Goa'uld."

Jacob nodded.

"I know about that, I just wasn't sure of the exact timeline."

"Does it matter?"

Jacob looked up from the device he was once more looking at.

"Yes. At least, _we_ think so."

She waited for him to explain himself, and he didn't make her wait long.

"There's no sign of any kind of poison in his system. No sign of anything that Ba'al could have done to him – aside from all the beatings he took."

"Those aren't connected to his present symptoms, though," Janet said.

"No. We think they're a sign of something a bit older."

"From his time with the desert people, you mean…"

"Yes."

Again she waited for an explanation and again he didn't make her wait long.

"We think it's a nutritional imbalance that's doing it."

"A what?"

Selmak took over.

"There's every indication that he is missing an important nutrient in his diet which is causing his organs to fail. A nutrient that most likely exists on the planet he was placed on by Loki before Ba'al captured him and removed him from it."

Fraiser frowned.

"You're sure?"

"We _think_," Jacob repeated. "But it's not unheard of. The people on that planet might grow Earth similar crops – many do because the people who live on other planets were brought from here originally – but they probably grow things that are completely different as well. If Officer Ruff spent six months with those people he was eating what they were eating, and drinking what they were. Plenty of time for his system to possibly change enough to grow used to something – only to lose it when he went to Ba'al's ship. Or to get it in smaller amounts or a slightly different form," Jacob added. "Enough to keep him alive, but not as healthy…"

"And then when he came here, we didn't give him any?" Fraiser asked.

"And his systems started failing…"

Fraiser was silent for a moment, looking at the test results.

"Recommendations?"

Jacob smiled.

"That's the easy part. We go to the planet and get samples of what they eat. Then we start figuring out what's there that isn't here and we give it to your patient."

Janet nodded. That's what she'd figured he'd say, but she had to make sure.

"I'll call General Hammond."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Are you sure you want to drop you off here?" Daniel asked, as he unstrapped the baby carrier from the back seat.

"I can't bring him to my place," Kira explained, "the walls were just painted and fresh paint can't be good for a baby."

"As long as you're sure…" Daniel conceded as he hoisted the diaper bag onto Kira's shoulder.

"You _can_ come in you know," Kira said smiling.

"Oh no," Daniel replied quickly, reaching into his pockets for his keys. "I really need to get back to the SGC and clear all this with Hammond. "

"Chicken," Kira mumbled under her breath.

"I'll call first thing in the morning and see how you're doing."

"You'd better," Kira said as she gazed down on the tow-headed child sleeping beside her. "This little guy really needs to meet his dad."

"Not as much as his dad needs to meet him," Daniel replied sagely. "Thanks, Kira."

"You _owe_ me."

"Yes, I do," Daniel agreed. And with that he gave her a little wave and was off.

Awkwardly, Kira carried both the car seat and the diaper bag (stuffed with bottles and formula, as well as diapers and a few toys) up the short flight of stairs. Grinning, she rang the doorbell.

"Coming!" A voice yelled from up the stairs. Kira heard the sound of a door slamming shut and footsteps. The door opened to a slight young man dressed in black silk boxers and an ironed t-shirt.

"Kira??"

"Hi, Stefan."


	41. Chapter 41

"Anthony?"

Fraiser didn't miss the fact that it was a lot harder to wake her patient up this time. She wouldn't have woken him at all except that she wanted to give him the news that they might have a cure – he had precious little hope to cling to, after all, and she needed all the time she could get. Which meant all the time he could give her.

He opened his eyes, but they were dull and his expression was tired and hopeless. His face was ashen at the moment, but flushed occasionally with fever, and there were dark circles under his eyes that made it look like he hadn't had any sleep in weeks.

"Janet."

Well, that was a good thing. At least he still knew who she was – and presumably _where_ he was.

She gave him a smile and took his hand.

"We think we've figured it out."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah." She squeezed his hand lightly, hoping he'd return the favor so she could measure his strength without him realizing what she was doing, and sure enough he did. The grip wasn't as firm as it once had been, but there was still an effort, which made her smile linger. "Just hang in there, okay?"

He nodded, and might have said something, but Daniel took that moment to make an appearance in the infirmary – and at Anthony's bedside. The archeologist looked worried and flustered.

"Anthony?"

There was a lot in that single name. Mostly it was directed at Fraiser, even though he was looking at Officer Ruff. Anthony gave him a smile that was probably supposed to be reassuring but turned out more of a grimace as he was wracked with another spasm of pain from his stomach.

Janet held his hand through it – she couldn't have let go if she wanted to, now, since he was holding her tightly – and then wiped a cool cloth along his face when the pain passed.

"We'll get you something for that," she promised him. "Just as soon as I know what's safe to give you."

He nodded, and looked at Daniel.

"I'm going to have to skip breakfast today…"

The archeologist nodded, uncertain what to say.

"Just get better, okay?"

"Janet's working on it…"

He closed his eyes, his head aching with the strain of trying to manage the pain, and Janet gave Daniel a look that he couldn't read.

"Jacob and the others are meeting in the briefing room," she told him. "You need to go."

"But I should stay here," the archeologist protested. "What if you need-"

"I'm not going to need you here," she interrupted. "And they might. Go."

He frowned, but didn't argue with her. There wasn't any sense in it, really, since she was pretty much kicking him out of the infirmary – and there wasn't a whole lot he could do to stop her.

"I'll be back as soon as I can."

She nodded and turned back to the monitors that were keeping track of Anthony's condition, and didn't even notice when he left.

OOOOOOO

"So we just need to go to the planet and ask them for a sample of everything that he might have eaten in the six months he was there?" Jack asked.

"And we'll need to take samples of the environment," Jacob added. "We're pretty sure it's got to be something he was eating, because the atmosphere on Ba'al's ship is almost certainly different than the planet's, but it never hurts to be sure."

The ship would have scrubbers and filters to keep anything foreign from entering the artificial air supply, but there was a slight possibility that whatever it was Anthony was missing could be natural for both the ship and the planet. Not very likely, but anything was possible, and they didn't have a lot of time to be going back and getting new samples if they missed something the first time.

"So we call the Asgard and have them give us a ride?" O'Neill asked.

"It'd be the fastest way to go, I'd say," Hammond replied. "Besides, this is still their fault, so they'd-"

He looked over as Daniel Jackson walked into the room.

"Welcome back," Jack said, sarcastically.

"Thanks. What did I miss?"

Daniel knew that there was more than one kind of sarcasm with Jack; the kind that he fell back on when he was uncomfortable, the kind he fell back on when he was angry, and the kind that he fell back on when he was worried. Daniel could read his expression well enough to know that this time he was worried, so he didn't take it personally.

"Jacob thinks that Officer Ruff is suffering from a deficiency of some kind dating back from his time on the planet with the desert dwellers," Hammond answered. "SG-1 is going to go and get samples of everything there and see if there's something there Doctor Fraiser can use to make him better."

"And if there isn't?"

"Then he's going to die," Jack said, bluntly. He turned to his second in command. "Go call Thor, will you?"

She nodded.

"Yes, sir."

O'Neill turned to Daniel again.

"Have you been down to see him?"

"I just left there. He looks terrible…"

"Yeah. We're going to take samples of every kind of food these guys are eating, samples of all the water and any other kind of drink – even the dirt and sand. I don't want to miss anything."

"Okay." This wasn't the first time they'd ever gone to a planet to collect samples, after all. "I'll go get some sample containers from Janet."

"We'll meet you in the armory."

Hopefully it wouldn't take Thor long to reply to their call.

Daniel nodded and left the room as quickly as he'd arrived. Jack turned to Jacob.

"You coming?"

"Of course."


	42. Chapter 42

"To take samples of everything will take longer than you might expect," Thor told Jack O'Neill only an hour or so after Sam had called on the Asgard for assistance. "There are many possible contributing factors and to make sure you have every combination, you will need to literally take some of everything. Not just those things that may have been eaten…"

"We know," Hammond said, answering before Jack could. "Doctor Fraiser has also asked for a couple of blood samples from the people who live on the planet to do a baseline comparison with Officer Ruff's."

Which had made sense when the request was made, but now sounded terribly intrusive considering these people had no reason to agree to such a thing.

"Are you going to help us or not?" Daniel asked, uncharacteristically blunt. He was worried, O'Neill knew, or he probably would have tried to be a little more diplomatic.

Luckily, Thor didn't seem to mind.

"The Asgard owe Officer Ruff every assistance we can offer," the little alien told them. "I am at your service – as is my ship."

"_And_ your technology?" Carter asked.

The Asgard looked over at her – and so did the others in the room.

She shrugged.

"If he helps us gather samples, we can be done in less than a day. If we do it ourselves, we'll be there at least three times that long."

"More than that," Thor said. He took a gratifyingly short amount of time to make a decision and then gave a slight nod. "I will assist you with your mission."

"We can leave whenever you're ready," Jack told him.

He and his team were already geared up, and Jacob was ready to go as well, with equipment he'd borrowed from the supply stores of the SGC. Fraiser had been tempted to go – to oversee the gathering of samples – but she wanted to stay and make sure she could keep her patient stable while they were gone, and instead had added one of her assistants to the group. A doctor who looked about sixteen, but Sam knew was actually almost in his thirties and more than capable when it came to offworld activities. He was carrying a pack that was filled with specimen bottles and labeling tools and had already been briefed by Jack and Jacob on what kind of conditions persisted on the planet – and what kind of people lived there.

"I am ready," Thor told them. An instant later they were all gone in a flash of light, and Hammond found himself alone in the briefing room.

He looked around and then went to his office, feeling a little foolish every time they left him standing by himself.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Where do we sit?"

Thor looked over at the doctor from his command chair.

"We will arrive at our destination in fifteen minutes."

"The Asgard don't believe in extra chairs, Alder," Jack explained, coming over and looking out the front view screen. At the moment it showed an amazing view of the Earth, with the South American continent prevalent in the view. It was something he never tired of looking at – although he wouldn't admit it to anyone. "Which isn't usually a problem until we start bumping into things."

"We will not bump into anything, O'Neill," Thor assured him as the Asgard slid his hand along the arm of his command chair. An instant later the view of the Earth was gone, replaced by a haze of stars going too fast to really focus on any of them.

OOOOOOOOOO

Luckily for the group, the translators that they'd had injected into their heads days before were still functioning. It made it a bit easier to deal with the local population once Thor explained to them what the small group was there for. Doctor Alder had a little more trouble, since he'd declined the translator when Thor had offered, saying that he'd just let one of the members of SG-1 translate for him.

Specimen containers were handed to every member of the expedition, along with lists for each of them so they wouldn't be doubling or tripling – or worse – on the samples that were gathered. They separated into teams – Teal'c and Daniel, Sam and her father, and Alder with O'Neill so he could keep track of the doctor. Sam and Jacob set off into the village Anthony had been living in to take samples of everything they could find, Teal'c and Daniel were set up with a guide – one who was fairly nervous about showing a Jaffa around (understandable) but was willing to trust Thor when he said that Teal'c was not a threat – and were led out into the wilderness around the village to get samples of everything they could find that the deputy might have come across during his stay.

Jack and Alder went with Thor to take care of something a little more delicate.

The leader of the small community was a little taken back when Thor told him that Alder wanted samples from him, and it showed quite plainly in his expression and in the tone of his voice when he replied.

"What did he say?" Alder asked O'Neill, softly.

The two of them were standing slightly back from the Asgard and the Desert Dweller, to keep from seeming too eager or imposing – especially Jack, who was wearing several weapons.

"He doesn't want you to take his… _essence_? Probably means his blood, but who knows?"

It wasn't like the translators were perfect, after all.

Thor and the villager spoke for several minutes, with Jack listening - a little bit - and staying out of the conversation to keep things from becoming a three-way conversation – besides, he didn't like negotiating anyway, and Daniel was off in the boonies somewhere. Finally the Asgard nodded and turned to Alder.

"He will allow you your samples."

"Great."

"In exchange for something of equal value…" the Asgard continued, looking at O'Neill.

Jack didn't allow his expression to change. He hadn't caught that part of the conversation, but honestly hadn't been paying that much attention to the final part.

"Like what?"

"He _wanted_ Major Carter," the Asgard said. Before O'Neill could reply, he added. "I told him that was not agreeable."

The colonel scowled at the villager, who lifted his chin slightly in response to the dirty look. He wasn't cowed by the stranger, but only because he dare not show uncertainty when making a trade. That made him bolder than he might normally have been.

"And what did he say?"

"He will settle for enough Jara seed to plant his fields for the next two seasons."

Jack frowned.

"I don't exactly _have_ that in my backpack, Thor."

"It is not a problem, O'Neill," the little alien assured him. "I can synthetically reproduce the seed on my ship and have it ready by the time your team has gathered all their samples. Lo'lin approves the trade and is merely awaiting your acceptance."

"Well, it's better than giving him Carter," Jack told him. He looked at the village leader and nodded. "Tell him I agree."

The villager smiled broadly, even before Thor spoke up. He spat on his hand and offered it to O'Neill, who sighed mentally and mimicked the action. They shook hands, and Thor spoke to the leader once more before turning to O'Neill.

"He will have someone bring me a sample of the seeds he requires. You and Doctor Alder may start taking your samples."

As they headed into one of the nearby shelters, Alder turned to O'Neill.

"You're not going to tell Major Carter Thor almost traded her away, are you?"

"Hadn't planned on it, no."

But he _might_, he decided as they went in out of the sun and Alder opened the bag he'd brought. It'd be amusing to see what she thought about being worth the same as a couple of bags of seeds.


	43. Chapter 43

_Author's note: Sorry about the wait you guys. For those who don't know, my sister was released from the nursing home last week and I've been busy getting her settled. Thanks to all of you who sent prayers and well wishes her way, because they worked!_

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Anthony Ruff opened his eyes, wondering – and not for the first time – if it was going to be the last time he managed it. Everything hurt. His head, his chest, belly… even the muscles of his arms and legs throbbed when he moved them. It was impossible to ignore and serious enough that he was almost positive that he wasn't going to get better.

"This will only take a moment, Anthony…"

Janet Fraiser had been taking a blood sample – which was what had woken him – but it didn't hurt since she was using one of his already established IV lines to draw blood. He turned his head, wincing because of the headache.

"It's okay."

She smiled, and finished what she was doing before taking a cool, wet cloth and wiping his face with it. His body was wracked with fever and she and her staff were doing everything they could to keep it within safe levels. So far they were managing to do just that, but she knew it wouldn't last if they didn't do something to cure what was causing the fever in the first place.

"You're doing great."

He forced a smile, but shook his head.

"You're not a very good liar, Janet."

"I happen to be a _great_ liar," she told him, blowing softly on his damp forehead to cool it. "I'm just not used to lying to a police officer."

Now the smile wasn't forced, and he actually managed a weak chuckle. He felt like crap, but she had a great bedside manner and made the misery a little easier to handle. Most of the time, anyway.

"How long has it been?"

She knew what he meant immediately, and wished she had better news for him.

"A little over a day."

He sighed, but tensed as a jolt of pain rocked through his stomach once more, leaving him breathless and sweating. Fraiser wiped his face again, her hand holding his tightly as he tried to catch his breath.

"I _could_ give you something more potent for the pain…" she told him when he finally opened his eyes again.

He shook his head.

"No."

They'd already discussed that. He was getting the most powerful painkillers she could give him that wouldn't knock him out completely or leave him relatively senseless. Anthony was pretty sure he was going to die, but he didn't want to do it in his sleep. He was hoping for a chance to see Daniel and his team one more time – to tell them thanks, because even though he was going to die, he wasn't going to do it on Ball's ship.

Janet hadn't liked it, but she _did_ understand. And she respected his decision, leaving it for him to make – even though she hated seeing him suffer.

"It won't be much longer, Anthony…" she promised him.

He nodded, closing his eyes.

"I know."

She had a feeling they were talking about two very different things, though.

OOOOOOOOOO

"How's it coming?"

Alder almost jumped out of his skin when O'Neill snuck up behind him and gave the colonel a reproachful look – which Jack returned with an innocent one.

"I… there's a lot of samples coming in," he said, and realized just how dumb that sounded. "Thor's putting them into his ship's storage, but also putting each sample into the database as well, to cut down on time, hopefully, when we're finished here."

Jack looked over at the Asgard, who was holding a scanner in his hand and examining the readout with interest – at least it looked like interest. Asgard were hard to read, sometimes.

"Thor?"

The little alien looked up.

"How long?"

"We are proceeding at a far more impressive rate than I originally thought possible, O'Neill," he replied, sounding a lot like Teal'c – minus the deep voice. "Presuming nothing happens to interfere with our work, we should be finished in a few more hours."

O'Neill looked at Alder again.

"How's Daniel?"

"There's no sign of any infection."

The archeologist had been helping their guide catch a small rodent-like animal out in the desert beyond the small oasis, and had been bitten by the little creature. There'd been a bit of blood, and a lot of head-shaking by O'Neill – who couldn't imagine how the guy had ever managed to avoid getting bit by something a lot nastier on archeological digs and had managed to survive long enough to learn all those languages he spoke. Now Daniel was limited (on O'Neill's orders) to collecting plant samples and environmental samples, while Teal'c assisted the locals with the wildlife collecting.

Of course, there was always a chance that they had some kind of vicious cactus out here, too, but he could probably avoid that.

"You're sure?"

If Alder was annoyed that the colonel doubted him, he didn't let it show.

"Yes."

"Are you sure we've got everything off the people that we need?"

"We have everything we require from them, O'Neill," Thor assured him before Alder could say anything. "I am loading the samples into my ship for analysis as we get them and will-"

"Alder told me already," Jack interrupted. "Thanks."

"You are welcome."

The Asgard walked off, probably more to get away from all of Jack's questions, or to simply avoid any more of the colonel's pacing, and O'Neill turned back to Alder.

"Anything I can do to help?"

The doctor shook his head.

"Not here. You can go help Teal'c and Doctor Jackson so we can get done faster…"

Jack shrugged. Sam and Jacob had switched over from the people and their village to helping Teal'c and Daniel with the environmental samples a couple of hours ago. They'd been doing it long enough, now, that _they_ knew what still needed to be done. O'Neill was pretty sure if he went charging in trying to help he'd just make things worse.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to go supervise or something."

Alder wasn't even listening. The doctor had already returned to the device in his hand and had zoned O'Neill out once more.


	44. Chapter 44

"That's it."

O'Neill looked at Carter, and then over at Thor.

"Are we sure?"

Not that he didn't trust Sam, but Thor had been keeping track of things with his ship's computer and even though Carter had a brilliant mind, she was still only human.

The Asgard looked at a readout on his command chair and nodded a moment later.

"We have collected samples of every element and material that this world has to offer," Thor said. "I will start analyzing the samples as we return to your world."

"You won't be able to figure it out without having Deputy Ruff available…" Jacob Carter said, making it a question even though it sounded like a statement of face.

Thor nodded.

"I am aware of this. It will not hurt to get things started, however."

"He's right," Jack said. "Let's get going."

Now that he had everything he'd come for, he was anxious to get back. Besides, almost two days under the hot suns of the planet were taking their toll and he was hot, sweaty and dirty.

They beamed Daniel and Teal'c back up into the ship and almost immediately left orbit. Sam rewrapped Daniel's hand, knowing that when they returned to the infirmary Janet would take a good long look at it. It looked clean though; there was no sign of any infection or swelling and Daniel had told her that it hardly even hurt.

Better to be safe than sorry, however.

OOOOOOOO

"How's he doing, doctor?"

As he asked, Hammond looked over Fraiser's shoulder at the bed Anthony was sleeping in. The deputy wasn't thrashing or anything, but even in his sleep he looked like he was uncomfortable – or in pain, Hammond wasn't sure.

Janet followed Hammond's gaze.

"He's holding his own, although I can't imagine how. Everything's beginning to shut down, and his fever is becoming life-threatening. We'll have to take drastic steps soon if it doesn't come down on its own."

"Is there anything I can do or get for you?"

She shook her head.

"No, sir. Have you heard from Colonel O'Neill-"

At that moment there was a bright flash of light, followed immediately by the sudden arrival of SG-1, Doctor Alder and Jacob Carter. They immediately moved over to Fraiser.

"How is he?" Daniel asked, already looking over at Anthony's bed.

"He's still with us," she replied. "Did you get my samples?"

"We've already loaded them into Thor's ship. He wants to know if you'd be willing to go up and do your tests there."

Which would give her access to far more technology than she had in her infirmary, Janet knew. She'd be foolish to not accept the offer.

"I just need to gather some samples and a couple of my staff…" she said.

"Thor's monitoring the infirmary," O'Neill told her. "When you're ready, just get in a small group and he'll beam you up."

She nodded, but then frowned, looking at Daniel.

"What did you do to your hand?"

Sam smiled and wandered over to Anthony's bedside while Janet started unwrapping Daniel's hand to get a look at it. The deputy had his eyes closed, but when she touched his arm lightly, he opened them.

"I didn't mean to wake you," she told him, softly.

"I wasn't sleeping…"

His voice was hoarse and sounded tired. Almost as tired as he looked.

"How are you doing?"

She didn't ask how he felt; she could tell how he felt.

He shook his head.

"You'd have to ask Doctor Fraiser." He gave her what she decided was supposed to be a wry smile, but actually looked like a grimace of pain. "She'll probably lie to you, though…"

Carter smiled.

"We took samples of everything, so hopefully Janet will be able to figure out what's going on with you."

"Hopefully."

He closed his eyes, tired beyond almost anything he'd ever felt before, but before she could leave him to his rest – or his misery – he reached out and unerringly found her wrist, opening his eyes once more.

"Thanks."

Before she could reply, O'Neill joined them, still dusty, dirty, and a little sunburned.

"You look like crap," he told Anthony, who gave a weak smile that looked more like a real smile this time.

"I was going to tell you the same thing. Did you find anything interesting?"

"Sand and rocks…"

"So… no?"

"I almost sold Carter, here."

She looked over at him and he gave her an innocent look.

"Don't worry, he wasn't offering enough."

The deputy chuckled, which turned into a painful cough, and both members of SG-1 lost their amused expressions as they watched him struggle to catch his breath afterward.

"Hang in there, Anthony," Jack told him, seriously. "Fraiser's the best."

He nodded, but he was done socializing for the time being. He just didn't have the stamina for it right then. His eyes closed and this time when they left he didn't stop them.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Daniel's hand was being rewrapped when they returned to the exam table he'd been told to sit on while Fraiser worked on him. All around them, medical personnel were gathering up equipment and charts, getting ready to move to Thor's ship to continue their work on Anthony.

"How's he doing, doc?" O'Neill asked, walking up to stand beside her as she taped the bandage off.

"Daniel or Officer Ruff?" Fraiser asked without turning away from what she was doing.

"Both."

"It looks like a simple wound, and it was cleaned right away," she said. "We'll keep a close eye on it – and him – to make sure there's no infection."

"And Anthony?" Jacob Carter asked from where he'd been quietly watching things as well.

"We're watching him, too."

She turned to look at her staff, who were all joining her.

"We're ready," Alder told her. Since he'd been in charge of gathering the samples and had already started working on them with Thor, the young doctor had clearly decided he was going to continue that now that they were back at the SGC. Luckily, Janet agreed with him.

"Let's go, then, people," Fraiser told them, gesturing for them to get in a smaller area.

Thor must have been watching for that kind of signal, because a moment later they were all gone.

Daniel turned to Sam.

"How's Anthony doing?"

Janet's answer hadn't been all that informative, after all.

"I think he's giving up…" she replied, looking over at the sleeping man's bed.

The archeologist frowned, flexing his hand.

"He can't do that."

"Relax, Daniel," O'Neill said, shrugging. "He's not dead yet. Give Fraiser a chance."

"With the death of his wife, there is always the chance that he does not feel there is all that much reason to fight," Teal'c said. "Perhaps he prefers it this way."

"He's not giving up," Jack told them. "He's just tired…"

"He needs a reason to keep trying," Daniel decided, getting off the bed. "And I know just the thing."

Without explaining, he headed for the door of the infirmary.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jack asked Sam.

She shrugged, mystified.

"Beats me, sir."


	45. Chapter 45

The door opened on the second knock, and Daniel actually took a step back when he saw his assistant standing in the doorway. Normally meticulous, Kira looked fairly awful just then. Her hair had been put into a ponytail, but parts of it had come loose and were hanging in her face, or sticking up, or just plain askew. She never caked makeup on anyway, but now what little she did have was either smeared or worn away in places, and she looked about as harried as he'd ever seen her.

"Um… hi."

She scowled, knowing that he was surprised by her appearances and annoyed because he shouldn't have expected anything else. She'd warned him she didn't know anything about babies, after all!

"Hi, Daniel. It's nice of you to _finally_ call."

There was no mistaking the aggravation and stress in her tone.

His expression chagrined, he reached up to scratch his jaw and she noticed the bandage on his hand. Her annoyance faded immediately – _mostly_, anyway. "What did you do to your hand?"

"I got bit."

"Is it okay?"

"Yeah. How's Agustin?"

Just then Kira's friend Stefan made an appearance in the doorway as well. He looked far more relaxed and calm than Kira, and his clothes were clean – if not a bit too tight as far as Daniel was concerned. He'd never been all that much of a fan of tight leather pants, after all. At least not on guys. In his arms, wriggling a little and making odd noises that were probably supposed to be comprehendible but didn't mean a thing to any of them, Agustin Ruff looked far more cheerful and healthy than his father.

"Hi, Doctor Yu-"

"Stefan!"

"_Jackson_," Stefan finished, not at all embarrassed at Kira's reprimand. "Did you come to get the baby?"

Daniel hesitated, uncertain. He needed to _borrow_ the baby, really. He wasn't all that certain that he would be able to take care of him, but a glance at Kira's expression told him there was only one right answer – and he nodded. He'd find a babysitter or something – maybe a daycare. He'd ask around on base. There were a lot of mothers and fathers working there, after all. They had to do something with their kids when they were working, right?

"I really appreciate you helping Kira watch him," he said, sincerely.

Stefan smiled.

"It was fun." He glanced over at Kira, whose shirt was stained with several different colors, and his smile widened. "For some of us more than others."

"I'll gather up his stuff," Kira said, turning back into the living room. "You can chat with Stefan while I get it."

Daniel stepped forward, not all that certain he wanted to be left alone with Stefan.

"I can help-"

"No, Daniel, it's okay…" Kira gave him a sweet smile that had a glint of revenge in it, and Daniel knew she was already getting back at him. God only knew what else she'd come up with. "I know where everything is."

She vanished into the house, and Stefan shifted Agustin to his other arm and leaned against the doorframe, his expression faintly predatory.

"So, Daniel… are you _seeing_ anyone…?"

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The infirmary was extremely quiet. With most of the medics gone – and Anthony wasn't all that sure where they were, nor did he feel up to asking, since it wasn't really his business anyway – he didn't have a lot of people to keep him awake, and he found himself drifting in and out of wakefulness with a regularity and ease that might have frightened him if he hadn't already decided that he was pretty much going to die no matter what happened.

They'd raised the end of the bed and propped him up to help with breathing and blood flow, and he had a soft bundle of pillows all around his aching head and shoulders to hold him in place. It afforded him a chance to look around when he was awake, which was a lot better than staring at the ceiling tiles above his bed. At the moment, though, he didn't even feel like watching the few people who would occasionally check his monitors and whatever else the tubes and wires that led from him were connected to. He kept his eyes closed, and wished – not for the first time – that Fraiser would fix him or give him something that would let him drift off and not wake up again.

"Anthony?"

The voice startled him awake – he hadn't even realized he'd fallen asleep. He opened his eyes and saw that Daniel was standing beside his bed. Holding what was almost certainly a baby wrapped in a blue quilt.

"Daniel…" he knew it wasn't much of a greeting, and tried a little harder. "Is it bring your baby to work day?"

The archeologist shook his head with a smile.

"Actually, he's not mine."

"You stole him?" Anthony asked, feeling an ache forming in his chest that he knew was going to be a sharp pain in just a minute – at least that was what the pattern had been the last day or two. Still, Daniel was good company, and Anthony suddenly wanted company. Depression wasn't something he was used to, after all, and he instinctively knew that it could be as destructive as whatever it was that was killing him. He tried hard to look less miserable. "I'm a cop, you know… you can't tell me those things…"

"He's not stolen," Daniel told him, coming closer and sitting on the edge of Anthony's bed and shifting a little, which made it so Anthony could see the little guy. He had a shock of fine blonde hair and the deputy couldn't help but smile at the glassy look in the blue eyes that were looking right at him – almost as if he was waiting for an introduction. "I brought him in to meet his father."

"Yeah?"

The deputy wondered why Daniel had stopped to visit with him before completing his errand. Not that he minded; the baby was cute – especially those eyes that almost seemed familiar.

"Yeah. His name is Agustin."

Anthony's eyes widened in surprise.

"Really?"

"Odd name, huh?" Daniel asked, smiling. He was thoroughly enjoying this meeting, and had tried to decide how best to introduce Anthony to the baby, but had hoped something would come to him when he'd arrived at the infirmary. So far it was going well.

"That's my father's name."

"Agustin?"

Anthony nodded.

"He was named after his grandfather… who was named that after his. It's a family tradition that the first son carried the names of his father and grandfather."

Daniel smiled.

"You mean, Agustin Anthony Ruff?"

Anthony nodded.

"Yeah."

"What a coincidence. That's _this_ little guy's name, too."


	46. Chapter 46

Anthony stared at him incredulous. Daniel was smiling, obviously waiting for him to say something, but the deputy couldn't see the humor in the situation.

"That's not funny, Daniel…" he said, finally, unable to keep the ache out of his voice. Bad enough that he was hurting anyway, but to add some kind of sick joke into the mix wasn't something he'd have expected from the archeologist.

Daniel lost his smile immediately when he realized Anthony thought he was playing some kind of trick on him. He shook his head.

"It's not a joke, Anthony," he replied, earnestly. "He's your son."

"I don't _have_ a son…" Anthony told him. Now the aching in his chest was more than just the pain of whatever was killing him. "Cathy and I tried… but-"

"He's yours."

"He can't be. I just told you-"

"He was born after you were abducted, Anthony. The-"

"Cathy would have told me!"

The words were torn out of him, and the baby in Daniel's arms gasped in shock at the angry shout.

Daniel shook his head, bouncing the little one a bit to keep him from crying.

"She might not have known… he was born eight months after you left. She would have only been pregnant for a month…"

Anthony hesitated, looking from the baby to Daniel and then back at the baby. Could it be true, he wondered… He stared at the baby, and realized that there had been a reason those eyes looked familiar. They were Cathy's looking back at him, a living reminder of the wife he'd lost while he'd been aboard Ball's ship.

"Are you sure…?" he asked, feeling a different kind of ache in his chest, now.

"Kira found him. We'd only looked into _your_ records, but she went into your wife's, as well, and found out about him. I-"

"Can I hold him?"

Daniel nodded, hesitating only a moment and only because he wasn't sure Anthony was actually strong enough to hold the baby.

"Of course."

He handed the youngster to his father and Anthony trembled only a little as he took him. His eyes locked on the baby's, he realized the rest of the story that hadn't been available to him. Cathy had known. She'd known he hadn't left her of his own accord. There was no way she'd ever have named their son after him if she'd thought he'd abandoned them both like others had probably told her he had. She'd loved him and had been waiting for him right up to the end.

A sob wracked his body and he held his son close, his cheek pressed against the baby's as he broke down and cried once more for the woman he'd lost forever. He'd never had a chance to say goodbye to her, but she'd left him the ultimate gift anyway. Proof of her love for him, and her faith in him.

Daniel quietly watched, wishing he had some kind of comfort to give the deputy but knowing there was nothing he could say. Instead he simply waited for the tears to stop, because there was no way Anthony was going to be able to sustain any kind of physical activity long – and that included crying.

Sure enough, less than ten minutes later the sobbing had faded almost completely, and Anthony was clearly trying to get himself under control – even though he didn't pull his cheek away from the baby. When he finally did look up at Daniel his eyes were bright with tears and his face was dangerously – in Daniel's opinion, anyway – flushed.

"Thank you…"

Daniel nodded, now feeling uncomfortable.

"You're welcome. I wish I had come up with a better way to tell you… I didn't mean to upset you."

"You didn't."

The baby had fallen asleep, not at all impressed by his first meeting with his father.

"Want me to take him?" Daniel asked, certain Anthony was being worn out by holding him.

The deputy shook his head.

"Can I hold him a while?"

"Of course. I'll, um… leave you guys alone for a bit – give you a chance to get to know each other, so to speak."

"Thanks."

Anthony settled the baby – _Agustin_, he told himself with a pleased smile and another pang of loss when he thought of Cathy – on the bed beside him, rolling slightly onto his side to accommodate the little guy more easily. Agustin didn't even wake up. With his father's arm around him holding him, and a warm bed to sleep in, he was as comfortable as he could ever want to be and the world was a good place just then.

Only minutes after Daniel left them, Anthony had fallen asleep as well, his son tucked close to his side.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Janet Fraiser was completely unaware of what was going on down in her infirmary just then. At the moment, she had other things on her mind. Like the dizzying array of equipment that Thor was allowing her and her staff access to. Even better, the Asgard was being very accommodating, and had showed each of them what they needed to know to be able to use it.

Far more advanced than anything she'd seen before, she still didn't have time to be all that impressed. More like grateful. She put her staff to work, and then got to work herself, plowing through the samples that had been brought from the planet, comparing each of them to Anthony's base samples and hoping to find a common denominator in them. The technology made it easier than it would have been, but it was still grueling and time-consuming, and the pressure to get a cure as quickly as possible before it was too late for Deputy Ruff was weighing down on her shoulders like the world must have weighed down Atlas.


	47. Chapter 47

Janet Fraiser frowned at the little alien who was standing in front of her. Then she looked down at the paper in her hand and over at Doctor Alder, who was standing beside her.

"You're sure of this?"

Thor nodded, as did Alder.

"Pretty sure," the other doctor said. "We won't know until we actually run a couple more tests…"

"We need a blood sample," Thor told her.

Fraiser sighed, and looked down at the paper in her hand once more. She took a blood sample kit from the ones left over from the trip to the desert planet.

"Then we'd better get one. Send me back down to my infirmary, please. I'll get it myself."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"What an amazing story…"

Daniel smiled.

"I know."

He leaned against the entrance to the infirmary where he'd been chatting with Sam and Jacob Carter. Both of them had listened to the story of the baby, and both seemed to be pleased at the sudden change in circumstances.

"It'll definitely give him a reason to live, won't it?" Jacob asked, looking over Daniel's shoulder at the bed Anthony was sleeping in.

"It wasn't the original reason I brought him here," Daniel said. "But I admit it comes at a good time…"

Sam smiled and noticed movement on the bed, prompting her to head over that direction. The baby was still sleeping, but Anthony was awake, holding his side tightly, telling Sam that he was undoubtedly hurting. He was also holding as still as he could, clearly trying to avoid waking the baby snuggled against him.

He looked up at her when she approached, his eyes bright with pain, and she reached over and hit the little button that would dispense painkillers into his system. It was only a few moments later when he sighed and his body relaxed.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome."

She reached over him once more, this time taking the damp towel out of the water that one of the medical staff had placed on the table by his bed. She wiped his forehead gently.

He held still long enough for her to finish, but then moved a little and looked down beside him – just in time to see Agustin squirm a little and open his eyes. Grinning, he reached down and picked the baby up, straining a little.

"Did you hear the news?"

Sam's smile was almost as wide as his. It was amazing the change in him – his eyes were bright again, but this time with joy. Clearly he wasn't afraid of the idea of fatherhood.

"I did. Are you going to introduce me?"

"Agustin Anthony Ruff…" he said, turning the baby so Sam could get a better look at him. "Meet Major Samantha Carter."

"He's adorable."

Anthony nodded, but the look he gave his son was a mixture of pride and sorrow.

"He looks like his mom."

Since Sam had seen a picture of Cathy Ruff, she had to agree.

"Can I hold him?"

"Sure." He was glad she hadn't commented on his wife; it was a wound he wasn't ready to talk about just yet. But as long as they stuck to discussing Agustin he was sure he'd be okay. He passed the baby over to her. "Just don't drop him."

She chuckled and while she did hold him a little awkwardly – she was far more competent with a P90 than a baby, after all – she did manage to keep from dropping him. Agustin gave her a slightly suspicious look, uncertain who she was and what she was doing with him, but Carter bounced him slightly and gave him the typical goofy look all people seem to get frozen on their faces when holding a cute child. He wasn't so sure about her, but he didn't start crying, either.

Not yet, anyway.

"Agustin, huh?" The way she said it made it a question.

"It was my father's name," Anthony explained, watching his son with warm eyes.

"Good thing it wasn't something a lot worse," a voice said from the other side of the bed.

O'Neill walked around the bed to get a closer look at the youngest Ruff. "Like Byron or Herbert or something…"

"I kind of like _Byron_," Carter told him.

Jack pretended to shudder and looked over to Anthony.

"May I?"

The deputy nodded and O'Neill took the baby from Sam with a lot more ease than Carter had taken him from his father. Of course, Jack had been a father, so he had more experience than the other two combined. He examined the baby – who was watching him, as well – and offered the youngster a finger. Agustin grabbed it and promptly tried to pull it into his mouth to chew on.

"How are you feeling?" Jack asked, playing tug of war with the baby at the same time.

"Awful."

He _looked_ awful, too. Tired – despite all the sleep he was getting – and haggard, drawn and pale. His expression was almost constantly pinched with pain – although it wasn't as bad as it had been when he woke up.

"Janet's working on it," Sam assured him.

Anthony nodded.

"I know."

He _did_ know. And for a change, he desperately wanted to believe that she could cure him. For the first time since he'd learned Cathy was dead, he had a reason to not want to join her. Agustin had already lost his mother, he needed his father. And Anthony needed him.

Daniel finished his chat with Jacob and walked over to join them. He didn't hear what they were talking about, but he assumed it was Agustin – especially since Jack was holding the baby and the baby was trying to chew his finger off.

"What-"

Before he could finish the question a bright light interrupted him and Janet Fraiser suddenly appeared as if talking about her had conjured her.

"Janet…"

Sam started to stand, looking hopeful. Fraiser didn't even look at her. Instead she turned to Daniel, a needle in her hand.

"I need you."


	48. Chapter 48

Daniel took an automatic step backwards, looking first at the needle in her hand and then at the doctor herself.

"Me? What did I do?"

"Apparently you managed to get bit by a little creature that seems to be at the center of everything that's going wrong with Anthony," Janet told him, pushing him down onto the bed beside the deputy's and pushing up his sleeve with a practiced motion.

Jack frowned.

"That little _mouse_ thing?"

"So I've been told," Fraiser agreed.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Sam asked.

"Is Daniel okay?" O'Neill asked at the same time.

The last thing they needed was for Daniel to come down with the same thing that Ruff had, after all.

"That's one of the things I'm going to find out…" Fraiser told him, swabbing Daniel's forearm as she tied a piece of rubber tubing around his upper arm to get a vein to pop out. She inserted the needle and Daniel winced, despite the fact that he hardly felt a sting. It was just a force of habit to wince when being pierced by a needle. The small vial attached to the syringe started filling immediately with blood.

"Should I start worrying?" Daniel asked, clearly already doing just that.

Fraiser shook her head, and gave him one of her most reassuring smiles as she pulled the needle out of his arm and finished what she was doing.

"No. But don't leave the base, okay?"

"But what's wrong with me?"

"Nothing."

"Then why do you need a sample-"

"Because your blood might be able to take care of Anthony's problem," Janet told him. She smiled and must have given off some kind of signal, because an instant later she was gone once more, leaving all of them staring at one another.

"Well…" Jack said, looking over at his friend, and then down at the baby in his arms. Unimpressed with the sudden vanishing act, Agustin had fallen asleep, his hand still clinging to O'Neill's finger. He looked back at Daniel, who was holding a cotton swab to his arm. "Are you _sure_ you're okay?"

The archeologist shrugged.

"I _feel_ okay…"

"Maybe you should lie down…" Sam suggested, obviously worried.

"Janet didn't say I should."

"She didn't say you shouldn't, either," O'Neill pointed out.

Daniel scowled, and shook his head.

"I'm fine. Until she says otherwise."

Or until he collapsed. He didn't say that, though. Instead, he sighed and looked over at Anthony.

"Did you ever get bit by a little mouse-looking creature?"

The deputy shook his head. He looked worried, too, and a little guilty. Of course, of Daniel came down with the same thing Anthony had, there would be every reason for the deputy to believe he'd caught it on the same planet Anthony had been on.

"If you're talking about the creature I think you are, I've never actually touched one alive."

"Oh."

"But they taste pretty good," he added.

"You _eat_ them?" Jack asked, surprised. "They're mice."

"They're not exactly mice, Jack," Anthony told him. "They're more like a raccoon – only smaller. And there isn't a lot of other wild game on a planet that has nothing but sand and two suns."

Good point. And one O'Neill didn't argue.

"I'm going to go report to Hammond," he said, handing the sleeping baby over to Carter. "He might as well know that Fraiser's taking blood samples – just in case she goes after one of us next."

He didn't _seem_ all that concerned, but he _did_ toss Daniel another worried look before he turned and left.

OOOOOOOOO

"Did you get it?"

Fraiser nodded, handing the blood sample over to Alder.

"Get that analyzed immediately and get me the results as soon as you have them."

In her own lab that might have taken hours. With Thor's equipment, it'd take a matter of minutes. Which was why she wasn't in her own lab.

Alder nodded.

"You know, that thing only bit him once. There's a good chance there won't be any change in his blood chemistry…"

"Let's hope there is," she replied, looking over at Thor, who nodded his agreement.

OOOOOOOO

"She took a sample of Doctor Jackson's blood?"

O'Neill nodded.

"Yep. Came swooping in – almost literally – and stuck a needle in him before he could even try to convince her that he hadn't done anything wrong."

"Did she say why?"

"No, sir. Just that it had something to do with a mouse-thing that bit Daniel and whatever it is that's going on with Officer Ruff."

"Is Doctor Jackson all right?"

"She said she was going to find out."

Hammond frowned.

"That's not very comforting, is it?"

Jack shook his head.

"No. Not really."


	49. Chapter 49

It was more than an hour later when O'Neill returned to the infirmary. This time he was carrying a cup of coffee and looking for his second in command. He found her sitting in Janet Fraiser's office with her father and Daniel. Jacob was holding Agustin, who was sleeping soundly in the Tok'ra's arms.

"Any word from Fraiser?" he asked without preamble – although he did make sure to keep his voice down to avoid waking the baby.

Daniel shook his head.

"Not a word."

"And Anthony's taken a turn for the worse…" Sam added, clearly worried.

Jack turned toward the deputy's bed, but couldn't see it from where he was. He _could_ see a large number of medical technicians and staff around that particular area – although he hadn't noticed them when he'd arrived.

"What's wrong with him?"

Daniel shook his head again.

"Everything. The organs that are failing are progressively getting worse."

"He's not going to live much longer," Carter added, her expression bleak.

"How long?" Jack asked.

"If his heart gives out, it'll be any time," Sam told him. "The other organs aren't quite as critical. Hours… a couple of days at the most…"

"We should find him a symbiote," Daniel said. "That'd give him extra time…"

Jack shook his head.

"The last thing he'd want is a snake – no offense, Jacob."

"None taken, Jack," the Tok'ra told him. "_We_ happen to agree with you. As much harm as the Goa'uld have done to him, we believe he'd reject the idea immediately if we were to offer it."

"We could _ask_ him," Daniel pressed. "I mean, he's got a son to take care of, now, and-"

"And he wouldn't be able to do that with a symbiote," Jacob interrupted. "The answer is no, Daniel. We don't believe he'd want to join the Tok'ra, and we're not going to put him through any more grief than he's already had."

"But-"

"No."

The archeologist looked over at O'Neill, his expression pleading.

"Jack…"

O'Neill shook his head.

"I agree with _them_, Daniel. I wouldn't want one, and I have far less reason to hate them than Anthony does."

"But-"

"He's not dead, yet," Sam said, resting her hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Maybe Janet will figure it out before there's even a need for this decision."

None of them looked all too reassured by that, but Jack had another thought in his mind, suddenly, and now the look he gave the archeologist was a lot more concerned.

"How do _you_ feel?"

"What?"

"How do you feel?" Jack repeated. "Any dizziness? Trouble breathing? _Anything_?"

Daniel hesitated, clearly taking stock now that it had been brought up. Finally, he shook his head.

"I feel okay."

"Does your hand hurt?"

"A little. I got _bit_, remember?"

"Yeah." Jack was all seriousness, now, and ignoring Daniel's gentle sarcasm. "I remember."

Daniel shook his head.

"I feel fine, Jack. _Really_."

Whether he was trying to convince O'Neill or himself it wasn't really certain, but before Jack could reply the door opened and Teal'c entered.

"Doctor Fraiser has returned."

Distracted by the discussion, none of the occupants of the room had noticed the light that had heralded Janet's return. Teal'c, however, had been standing near Anthony's bed, watching him, and had been the first to greet her.

Jack stood up, as did Daniel and Sam. Jacob was hampered by the sleeping baby in his arms.

"Did she say anything?"

"She wishes for you to join her at Anthony Ruff's bedside."

Since Teal'c didn't say specifically who he was talking to, they all went – including Jacob, who stopped only long enough to put Agustin into the car seat he'd been brought in.

Janet Fraiser was looking at Anthony's chart when they reached her, and in one hand she held a vial filled with a red fluid that looked suspiciously like blood.

"Did you find anything?" Sam asked as soon as she looked over at them.

The doctor hesitated, but nodded.

"I think so. I'm just not positive how well it'll work. I wanted to run some more tests…"

"He doesn't have a lot of time, Janet…" Daniel told her.

"I know, Daniel."

"Will it kill him if it doesn't work?" Jack asked, gesturing toward the vial.

"Probably not."

"He's going to die if you _don't_ try something," O'Neill pointed out.

"And he's probably not going to last long enough for you to do a whole bunch more tests…" Daniel added.

"I know, Daniel." Now she sounded annoyed. She hated being indecisive, but she couldn't help it in this case. Unfortunately, both men were right, and she knew it. She set the chart down on Anthony's bed and picked up a syringe and quickly filled it with the fluid in the vial.

Before anyone could make any further comment, she injected the contents into one of the IV lines going into Anthony's forearm.

Sam looked at the deputy, but he was unconscious, his face pale and drawn.

"How long until we know anything?"

Fraiser shook her head.

"I'm not sure. We might not." She looked over at O'Neill. "Call General Hammond, Colonel. He'll want to hear this."

With that she turned and headed toward her office, the vial in her hand.

"He's not the only one," Daniel said, following her immediately.


	50. Chapter 50

It didn't take Hammond long to arrive in the infirmary. Like everyone else, he'd been waiting to hear from Fraiser, and now that she was back, he was anxious to know if she'd discovered anything that might help. He found his chief medical officer in her office with SG-1 and Jacob Carter gathered around as well as could be in the relatively small space.

"Doctor?"

O'Neill moved out of the chair he was sitting in as soon as Hammond entered and gestured for the general to take it. Then he leaned on the edge of Fraiser's desk while Janet picked up a file and looked over at Hammond.

"It's an antigen, sir."

"An antigen?"

"Yes."

" And it's killing him?"

"No. It's protecting him – or at least it _was_ – and now it's fading out of his system, and he's dying."

Hammond wasn't the only one to give her a blank look – and Fraiser wasn't surprised. She'd pretty much expected it.

"Look, the planet he was living on isn't as hospitable as it originally seems. There's something there that _can_ kill people – and other higher life forms. Like the raptors and a few of the top tier predators."

"The people there were pretty alive…" O'Neill said.

"Because of the antigen."

"It's natural in them?"

"No, it's natural in the mouse-like creatures that are all over the planet."

"Like the one that bit me?" Daniel asked.

"Yes."

"So I'm going to get sick?"

"No." She seemed fairly certain of that, which was a relief to Jack and the others.

"So what does this antigen do, Doctor?" Hammond asked.

"The atmosphere on the planet is toxic, General. Not-"

"Why would Loki put Anthony on a planet that would _kill_ him?" Daniel asked, frowning.

"I'm sure he didn't know it was toxic, Daniel," Fraiser told him. "The people on the planet are all healthy, after all. The poison in the atmosphere won't kill you immediately. It's incredibly subtle – and _we_ probably would have missed it if we hadn't had Thor's help looking for it."

"But the people on the planet are _alive_," Jack repeated.

"Because the life on the planet found a way around the poison in the atmosphere."

"The mouse-thing," Sam guessed.

"Yes. The mouse-thing. It's developed a natural immunity to the poison. Probably it was one of the first creatures to evolve on the planet. Now it keeps everything else alive as well. It seems that those higher life-forms on the planet either eat the mouse or eat _creatures_ that eat the mouse."

"Anthony said they eat them on the planet," Daniel said.

"Said they were good, even," Jack added.

"So the people develop an immunity to the poison on their planet by eating these mice," Hammond said. "I still don't see why this would affect Officer Ruff. He was on Ba'al's ship for six months as near as we can tell."

"During which time the antigen that had been in his system was fading," Fraiser replied. "Until eventually, when he came here, it was gone completely. The only problem is, the poison he'd been breathing in stayed in his system longer than the antigen, and now that the cure is gone, the poison is back in control."

"Which is why he's so sick…"

"Yes."

"So what did you do?" Jack asked. "Give him ground up mouse?"

Fraiser shook her head.

"I used Daniel's blood to get a high concentrated sample of the antigen. At least high concentrated as far as it goes. I double checked blood types and simply gave Officer Ruff a shot of Daniel's blood instead of taking the time to isolate the antigen itself."

"Will it work?"

"Hopefully."

"Will Officer Ruff not require this sort of treatment the rest of his life?" Teal'c asked.

She shook her head.

"If he responds to the treatment, we'll keep it up until the poison is completely out of his system. Then we should be able to stop giving it to him."

"Wait a minute…" Daniel said, with a frown. "Anthony wasn't the only one taken from that planet – and some had been taken long before him. They're not dead… or even sick. He would have mentioned it."

"Anthony wasn't born on the planet and hadn't been eating those mice from the get go," Janet replied. "The people on the planet are so inundated with the antigen that it's actually in their very marrow and – to an extent – in their DNA. It'll keep them alive a lifetime even if they left the planet."

"Oh."

"How long will we have to wait before we know if it works?" Sam asked.

"It shouldn't take long."

"What about us?" Jack asked. "We were on the planet… are we going to get sick, too?"

"You weren't there long enough to take a dangerous amount of the poison into your systems, Colonel," Fraiser assured him. "You should be fine – but we'll keep and eye on things, just in case."

"Good work, doctor," Hammond said, standing up.

"Thank you, sir."

"Keep me informed on Officer Ruff's progress."

"I will, sir."

Hammond left the office, probably to make some kind of report, and Jack looked over at Daniel.

"Way to get bitten, Daniel."

The archeologist smiled, ruefully.

"Thanks. I think."


	51. Chapter 51

The pain was omnipresent. It was always there, an agony that wore at him every time he approached consciousness and almost always drove him back to his restless sleep. Not _every_ time, though. Sometimes he thought that Cathy was beside his bed and he he'd try to talk to her, letting her know that he'd found out about Agustin, or simply to apologize for leaving her, but she never answered. She'd occasionally murmur something he couldn't understand, or he'd reach and try to touch her, only to have her fade away into blackness. That had hurt as bad as any of the physical pain.

Very rarely he'd wake up aware of his surroundings. People were always around him, changing tubes or wires, or checking monitors and God only knew what else. They'd look down at him and he'd try to talk to them, but there was a tube down his throat that kept him from speaking, and when they tried to talk to him he couldn't understand what they were saying – or maybe he couldn't hear them over the roaring in his head – and they'd all walk away before he could find out what was going on and if he was going to live or die.

Always the pain would drag him back into darkness.

OOOOOOOOO

"Anthony…?"

The soft whisper pulled him from a disjointed dream of one of his first dates with Cathy – a time that he was still in the military and she was still in college. Long before he'd become a deputy sheriff and she'd decided that she didn't want to be a doctor after all and decided on a degree in pharmaceutical medication instead. A time when he'd been uncertain if he'd make a career of the military or if he'd find a job that would put him closer to the woman he was certain was going to end up becoming his wife – assuming she was willing.

He ignored the voice, trying to force him mind back to the dream instead.

"Anthony?"

This time the voice was accompanied by a touch. The touch was too much to ignore – especially since he'd expected a stab of pain to hit any minute. He tensed, uncertain where it would hurt the most, and was surprised when there was a dull ache but nothing more.

Surprised enough that he actually opened his eyes.

Janet Fraiser smiled down at him, her expression unreadable except for the smile.

"Don't try to speak…" she said, softly. "There's tube in your throat to help you breathe."

He nodded, and reflexively tried to swallow – and almost gagged, both from swallowing and nodding.

"Try not to _swallow_, either," she added, running her hand along his neck and somehow managing to soothe his throat from the outside. While she did that, she watched him intently. "Do you understand what I'm saying to you? If you do, blink once…"

He hesitated, making sure he'd understood her correctly, and then blinked.

She smiled.

"Good. I'm going to run a few tests on you. I want you to blink once if it hurts worse than a five on a scale of one to ten, and twice if it doesn't. Do you understand?"

He blinked again, unwilling to trigger the gag reflex again.

"Good." He felt her touch his hands and squeeze them. "Hurt?"

He blinked twice.

"Good." Now her hands touched his feet. "How about that?"

He blinked twice, again. This wasn't so bad.

Her hands ran up his legs and stopped right around his kidneys. He started to smile because it actually tickled, but then her fingers tightened just a little and he gasped as a sharp pain jolted him so badly he forgot he wasn't supposed to try and speak. He tensed everywhere – which made everything that hadn't hurt before now suddenly scream with pain – and his throat tightened around the tube, causing him to gag worse than ever.

Janet didn't panic. She was far too experienced to even look _worried_ as she suddenly put his bed into a more upright position and take hold of the tube.

"Cough and breathe out," she ordered him, pulling on the tube carefully.

Despite his panic he did what he told her and his stomach clenched when she pulled the tube out. It felt like it must have been lodged somewhere near his groin, but the tiny part of him that could actually _think_ was pretty sure it had been in his lungs – and that she'd never have removed it if she didn't think he'd be able to breathe on his own.

He heaved as his stomach tried to expel everything he'd eaten in his entire life, but there was nothing to come up and the coughing took precedence.

Fraiser patted him gently on the back, helping to force air into his lungs with each intake of breath until he managed to get himself back under control. Only then did she push him carefully back into the bed, a mountain of pillows cushioning him and supporting him into an upright position. A moment later she produced a cup with water in it and a straw to drink with.

"Just take a couple of sips," she cautioned him, putting the straw against his lips. "Any more than that and you'll choke for real…"

He did as she told him, certain that she knew best. A couple of very small sips and he pulled his head away, leaning back into his pillows and closing his eyes as he waited for the pain to subside once more.

"Hurts?" she asked.

He nodded, swallowing again and feeling an ache there, too, but not as badly as the rest of his body.

"It'll probably be a few days before you're really out of the woods," she said. "But you're doing a lot better than you should be – considering."

He opened his eyes.

"Considering?"

The word was a croak, but she understood him just fine.

"Considering all your major organs failed almost at the same time…"

He hesitated, thinking that through as well as he could through the pain. All he could come up with was that that didn't sound good at all.

"I'm dying?"

"No. We transplanted them all."

He frowned.

"What…? How-"

He didn't know everything, but he was pretty sure that the odds of them finding a perfect donor for all his organs at the same time was about as likely as… something _highly unlikely_ – he couldn't think of anything good just then.

Janet pressed a cool cloth against his cheek – and it felt wonderful.

"Thor cloned them. The Asgard happen to have very advanced cloning technology – they use it on themselves, after all – and all we did was provide him with a sample of everything that was failing and he made new ones. You won't have to take rejection medications for the rest of your life, so that's a definite positive side to it."

"Thor?"

"An Asgard," Janet told him. "Didn't you meet him when SG-1 rescued you from Ba'al's ship?"

He shook his head. It didn't hurt as much as it once had.

"I don't think so…"

Of course, he might have. He was pretty sure he'd have remembered, but he wasn't completely sure.

"No matter," Janet assured him. "Suffice to say, the Asgard have been very helpful getting you back to health and without that help we'd have lost you days ago."

"Days?" he was still having trouble keeping up with what she was telling him, but it definitely didn't feel like days. "How long have I-"

"More than a week," she told him.

He stared at her and she nodded.

"Don't worry. Agustin's fine."

Chagrined that he hadn't even thought to ask about his son, Anthony grimaced.

"Can I see him?"

She shook her head.

"Not right now. I want you to sleep."

He wanted to argue with her, but he didn't. For one thing, he didn't even feel up to arguing, and for another, he had a feeling that he wouldn't have even been _able_ to hold Agustin even if Janet had handed him over.

She watched his expressions, and smiled when he finally settled on a resigned sigh of discontent. He couldn't say she was wrong and didn't want to admit she was right. She could live with that – she was used to it, after all.

"Go to sleep, Anthony. We'll talk again when you're stronger."

He nodded and closed his eyes. Whether he wanted to or not, his body needed sleep and wasn't going to allow him a chance to refuse.

She waited just long enough to make sure he was actually asleep, and then went to report to Hammond and the others.


	52. Chapter 52

"He woke up?"

Janet nodded.

"Yes. And he was almost completely lucid."

Hammond wasn't the only one around the table to frown at that.

"_Almost_?" Jack repeated.

"He'd just woken up, Colonel," Janet replied. "From _multiple_ transplants. He's bound to be a little out of it."

"But did he appear to have sustained any permanent damage?" Hammond asked.

She hesitated but then shook her head.

"The sensory tests I managed to run on him were all very promising. He was also able to communicate with me – both before _and_ after I removed the intubations tube."

"So his mind's still there?" Daniel asked.

"As far as I can tell."

It had been a pressing concern for all of them. The deputy hadn't reacted to the antigen that Fraiser had dosed him with quickly enough for it to save most of his critical organs, and only Thor's intervention had kept Ruff from dying within the first twelve hours. Fraiser had called in an emergency transplant team – she was an excellent trauma surgeon but more than willing to admit that multiple transplants were out of her league – and the new organs had been replaced in order of which ones were failing the quickest, with the heart being last to go.

The surgeries had gone smoothly and since the replacements were exactly the same tissue as those being replaced there was absolutely no chance of rejection – although infection had been a very serious concern until Thor had once more offered up Asgard technology and had made a clean room out of one of the isolation rooms.

Anthony had been out several days – and had been showing signs of serious discomfort and delirium – but this was the first time they'd had ay good news delivered to them.

"Can we see him?" Carter asked.

Janet shook her head.

"He's too weak. Give it a couple more days."

"But-"

She raised her hand to stop O'Neill's argument before it could even begin.

"I'm serious, Colonel. He needs to rest. _Quietly_."

"But surely we could at least bring the baby…" Daniel started, but trailed off at Fraiser's stern look.

"No. He asked for him, and I've already told him no. It won't kill either of them to be apart for a couple more days." She looked over at Hammond. "I'd like a guard on his door, sir, just to make sure he isn't disturbed."

O'Neill scowled.

"You don't _really_ think we'd disobey you, do you, Doc?"

She didn't look at all apologetic.

"Whether it's you, or someone else – or even the _Asgard_ – I want my patient left alone by everyone but essential medical personnel."

"And he _will_ be," Hammond said, nodding. He threw O'Neill a look that brooked no argument.

Jack grudgingly nodded as well and gave his team a similar look to the one Hammond had given him, letting them know that there was to be no sneaking in to visit Anthony until he was stronger.

They all gave him acknowledgements of varying degrees of reluctance and Jack turned back to Fraiser.

"But he's going to be okay, right?"

"We'll see."

She sounded fairly confident, though, which was a relief to all of them.

"Dismissed, people," Hammond said, pretty sure that they'd just start rebelling if they were allowed to dwell on the idea of invading the clean room to check on Ruff any more than they already were.

OOOOOOOOO

"So what do we do now?"

O'Neill shrugged.

"You heard Fraiser. We leave Anthony alone long enough to heal up a bit."

Daniel gave him a knowing look.

"But we hang out close enough to talk to him when he's awake?"

"Exactly."

It wasn't like they were doing anything else just then, after all.

Carter smiled.

OOOOOOOOO

Fraiser stopped short of leaving, allowing the others to file out around her until the room was empty except for her and Hammond.

"How's the baby?"

Hammond smiled.

"I don't think my granddaughters are going to let Deputy Ruff have him back."

"He _is_ a cutie," she agreed.

"How long do you think it'll take for Anthony to recover enough to get back on his feet?"

"Normally it'd be months."

"Normally?"

"Thor is willing to use some more of that flaunted Asgard technology to heal him a little quicker. Now that he's woken enough that I've had a chance to make sure he hasn't received any lasting brain injury we can take that step. Instead of months it'll be weeks – maybe even days."

"And you're sure this thing that Thor's going to do is safe?"

She nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Good. Keep me informed, doctor."

"I will, sir."


	53. Chapter 53

He had a lot of trouble focusing on what was going on around him at first. When he was asleep – which was most of the time – it didn't matter, but even as miserable as he was when he was awake he didn't like the fact that he was hardly aware of much more than the fact that there was always medical staff around him, monitoring him and constantly writing on the clipboard that was hung near his bed.

Most of the time it was Janet. She'd give him a smile and a look that told him she was checking on him even when she didn't ask him anything and then sometimes she'd start to say something and he'd fall asleep and other times she'd hand him a small paper cup with water or ice chips in it to take the dryness out of his mouth and throat.

It didn't do much for the ache that never seemed to leave his body from the waist up, but he didn't complain. He was lucky to be alive, and he knew that she was doing everything she could to help him. Complaining didn't help. That much he'd learned long before he'd ever heard of the Ghouls.

Eventually, he found himself staying awake for longer periods of time. Sometimes even long enough to actually watch an entire test that one of the medics – or Janet – was performing on him. Sometimes he could even croak out a question of his own – or a response to one of theirs. Most of the time Janet would run cool, soft fingers along his forehead or cheek and tell him to go back to sleep. Which he always did, no matter how much he wanted to stay awake.

OOOOOOOO

Somehow he knew there was someone by him. Not that the person had made any noise, because he couldn't remember hearing anything, but it was just a sense that there was someone there. Most of the cops he knew had it in some form – that sixth sense that told them when they were near a person trying to hide from them, or when there was an ambush set up by some kind of psycho who just had a thing for hurting people – especially cops. Anthony had it, too. His was even sharper for his time spent on Ball's ship, and constantly on guard against the Jaffa and the Ghouls they served.

He opened his eyes and stared up at the ceiling for a full thirty seconds before Jack O'Neill spoke up.

"You look a lot better."

Anthony turned his head, and realized that the headache which had plagued him almost continually was nowhere near as bad as he remembered it being.

"I _feel_ like crap."

"Better than being dead…" O'Neill told him, shrugging.

Good point.

"True."

The colonel looked around the small room, almost guiltily.

"Is there anything you need?"

Anthony shook his head. He didn't feel like doing anything but simply be still.

"Where's Agustin?"

"Hammond's daughter is watching him. He's fine."

Jack looked over his shoulder again.

"You're not supposed to be in here, are you?" Anthony asked him.

O'Neill contrived an innocent look that was nowhere near good enough to fool the experienced deputy.

"What makes you think that?"

"You look guilty."

"Maybe I just have a guilty conscience."

"Do you?"

"No. I'm not supposed to be in here."

Anthony would have chuckled if it wouldn't have hurt too much to do it.

"Was there something _you_ need, Colonel?"

O'Neill shook his head.

"I'm just checking on you. Now that I know you're not dying I can go report to everyone else."

"Janet could have told you…"

"She's a doctor. They don't always tell you everything you want to know."

Since Anthony didn't have a lot of experience with doctors – and O'Neill clearly did – he just nodded.

"Did she say anything?"

"Thor used some kind of device on you. Something to speed heal you or something like that."

"The Asgard?"

"Yeah."

"He _helped_ me?"

O'Neill nodded, understanding the question and the suspicion at the same time.

Anthony could feel his headache returning with force. Whether because of the conversation, or the topic, he didn't know.

"Yeah. They're not all like the one who got you into this whole mess in the first place, you know. Most of them are pretty decent."

Ruff chose not to comment on that. For one thing, O'Neill might be right – he certainly seemed to believe what he was saying – and for another, Anthony didn't want to talk about the Asgard.

As if he understood what was going through the deputy's mind (or maybe just recognized a look of pain crossing his features), Jack stood up.

"I'd better get out of here before Fraiser catches me where I'm not supposed to be."

The deputy smiled.

"You afraid of her?"

Janet was, after all, a very forceful personality – for all that she wasn't very big.

O'Neill gave him an amused grin.

"_I prefer silent prudence to loquacious folly."_

Ruff snorted, impressed and amused by the Air Force Colonel who could quote Cicero at the drop of a hat like that.

"If I see her any time soon, I won't mention seeing you."

"Thanks."

With that, O'Neill was gone, and Anthony closed his eyes again. Sleep wasn't far behind and he was snoring lightly before Jack had managed to sneak past the guard that Sam was distracting for him.


	54. Chapter 54

The next time Anthony opened his eyes, he was almost frightened into a heart attack – even with his brand new heart. Teal'c had been leaning over his bed, wondering at the reasoning behind having a wire that ran from Anthony's finger to a monitor, and had been trying to ascertain what exactly it was monitoring when Anthony woke up – probably in response to having someone so close to him. He gasped and threw himself backward – luckily into the pillows behind him so he didn't hurt himself – and his pulse, blood pressure and everything else that could be monitored all sky rocketed in an instant.

The Jaffa realized his mistake immediately, and stood back a little, chagrined.

"I apologize for scaring you, Officer Ruff," he said, his deep voice sounding exactly the same as if he was ordering someone's execution – at least it did to _Anthony_.

The deputy was trying to ignore all the new spasms of pain that were shooting through his chest and abdomen at the sudden motion and shook his head, breathless.

"You didn't scare me." Which wasn't at all true, but he didn't want to admit just how badly he'd been startled by having a Jaffa hovering over him when he'd woken.

The Jaffa didn't look convinced, and Anthony reluctantly amended his statement.

"_Much_, anyways…"

Teal'c nodded.

"Nevertheless, I do apologize. I should have realized that my presence would be alarming to you."

Anthony didn't even bother to try and say it hadn't bothered him, because he knew Teal'c was observant enough to notice his reaction – he obviously had, after all. Instead, he changed the subject a little.

"What are you doing in here?"

"O'Neill has asked me to keep an eye on you for him. Doctor Fraiser will not allow him in here at the moment."

"But she'll allow _you_?" he asked, a little skeptically.

"She is not aware I am here."

"Ah."

He didn't know what to say to that, but Teal'c didn't wait for a reply.

"How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine."

It was an automatic answer – to show weakness in front of a Jaffa wasn't something Anthony would ever do. Even Teal'c. It was just a byproduct of having them beat on him so many times for absolutely no reason other than the fact that he couldn't fight back.

The Jaffa nodded.

"I will inform O'Neill and the others."

With that odd statement – why couldn't Janet tell them, after all? – Teal'c gave him a slight bow and vanished from the room.

The deputy frowned, but was really rather relieved that he was gone. A tenseness he hadn't even realized was there left him as soon as the Jaffa did and he took a deep breath that made everything ache all over again.

It was a good ache, though. It told him that he was alive.

OOOOOOOOOO

Two days later Janet had Anthony up on his feet for very short walks.

First simply around his own room, which was almost more than he could handle. Although he hated the fact that a simple shuffle around a relatively small room could wipe him out so badly that he was shaking by the time he was back in bed, there wasn't much he could do about it. It was another couple of days before he managed to graduate to longer walks. This time around the entire infirmary.

After that, he was moved out of the little room he'd been stuck in and placed in a comfortable bed in the main room of the infirmary, where he could have visitors that didn't need to sneak in and out to see him – although Janet was right there almost all the time, making sure that those who did visit weren't there long enough to tire him out.

By the time a week was out, Anthony was well on his way to recovery and able to take walks – with an escort – to the commissary, Carter's lab and Daniel and Jack's offices. He was also able to spend quite a bit of time getting a chance to make up for lost time with his son, who looked more and more like Cathy every time Anthony had a chance to see him. They were bittersweet moments that left him quietly sobbing when the child was asleep or had been taken away for the night, but not so painful that he wasn't anxious to see him again the very next chance possible.

Janet didn't allow him to see him all the time, however. She was constantly running tests on him, checking his progress with her monitoring equipment, and with some on loan from the Asgard. All of the tests were coming back positive, though, and Anthony knew that he was doing much better than any of them had expected. For that matter, he was doing far better than _he_ expected.

Well enough that he eventually started wondering what he was going to do now. He was too healthy to stay cooped up in bed for much longer, and well aware that he was in on one of the biggest secrets known to man. Well, known to some of them, anyway. He couldn't believe they were going to let him just up and leave Cheyenne Mountain when he was better – and he wasn't all that sure how he was going to manage to get his job back with the Sheriff's department even if they did. Chances were everyone thought he was dead, after all.

He started wondering about it, and _worrying_ about it – mostly in his sleep when he had nothing else to do but worry – and his mind would concoct all kinds of government conspiracies to keep him quiet – including someone having the Asgard send him back to the planet the Ghouls had found him on in the first place. He'd wake up sweating and panicked, his heart racing a mile a minute and all sorts of alarms going off on the monitors that were keeping track of him while he slept. When someone on the medical staff would come rushing in, Anthony wouldn't tell them the truth – he simply told them that he'd had a bad dream and assure them that he was fine. Fine, fine, fine.

But he lost a lot of sleep, and then his appetite, and finally his condition actually stopped improving and Fraiser became worried once more, certain that something was going on with him that he wasn't telling her – or anyone else.

She had every member of SG-1 – except for Teal'c, of course – try to talk to him and figure out what it was, but Anthony was as tight-lipped as any of the military personnel on the base when it came to speaking about what was bothering him and they all came away with nothing more than an assurance that he was fine.

OOOOOOOO

"I thought you told me he was getting _better_, doctor…" Hammond said, a little more than two weeks after Anthony had first woken up.

She shrugged, exasperated.

"He was, sir. But he isn't any longer."

"Rejection of the new organs?" Carter asked.

Fraiser shook her head.

"They're _his_ organs. He can't reject them. Besides, if he was going to, it would have happened immediately."

"Maybe the antigen didn't work as well as you thought it was going to?" Daniel hazarded.

"I gave him another dose – just in case," Janet said. "It's doing its job."

"Then what is it?" O'Neill asked.

"Something is bothering him," Teal'c told him.

They all turned to look at the Jaffa.

"What?" Janet asked. "How do you know that?"

"He told you?" Jack asked.

"No. I have merely watched him," Teal'c replied. "Something is bothering him."

"His son?" Hammond asked.

Janet shook her head.

"He's fine when he's with Agustin…"

"He might be wondering when he's going to be able to get him full time…" Daniel said.

Jack looked over at Teal'c.

"For that matter, he might be wondering what we're planning to do with him now that he's getting well…"

"That wouldn't be making him sick, Colonel," Janet objected. "It would make him want to get better – faster."

"Unless he thought we were going to do something awful to him," Sam said.

"What? Why would he think something like that?"

She'd treated him well the entire time he'd been under her care, after all. He didn't have any reason to be afraid she'd turn on him.

"Has anyone said anything to him about what he wants to do once he's healthy?" Hammond asked, curiously.

They all shook their heads and the General stood up.

"Then maybe it's time I went and had a talk with him."


	55. Chapter 55

Anthony was awake when Hammond walked through the door of the infirmary

Anthony was awake when Hammond walked through the door of the infirmary. He just happened to be looking that direction and immediately felt his stomach tighten. Hammond wasn't a regular visitor to the infirmary – he'd been there maybe twice since Anthony had come to the SGC. Even more, the general had a serious expression on his face and was looking for Anthony from the moment he walked into the room, which told Anthony a lot more than Hammond might have thought. He figured that he was probably going to finally find out what was going to happen to him now that he was getting better.

He schooled his expression as Hammond walked over; careful not to show any sign of the nervousness he was actually feeling. That was a weakness he couldn't afford – a backlash from his time on Ball's ship, he knew, but something he couldn't help doing.

"Deputy Ruff," Hammond said by way of greeting as he came to Anthony's bedside. "You look much better."

He didn't, really. There were dark circles under his eyes and a wariness in his expression that Hammond hadn't seen before. Obviously the guy _was_ worried about something. He nodded, though.

"I _feel_ better, thanks to Doctor Fraiser."

Hammond gave a wry smile.

"The Asgard helped a little."

Anthony's expression turned sour.

"It's all their fault to begin with."

"The Asgard are our allies, Deputy Ruff. They've done a lot to keep the Earth safe from the Goa'uld and countless other races who would have run us over a long time ago."

Ruff shrugged.

"It's hard to be grateful to them right now…"

"Well, maybe eventually…"

"Assuming I'm around…" Anthony told him, breaching the subject before Hammond. He wasn't really feeling all that well, after all, and the suspense wasn't helping.

The general nodded, glad that they were changing the subject.

"About that, Deputy Ruff. I was wondering what you had in mind for your future now that you're back?"

"I suppose that would depend on you, General… Wouldn't it?"

Hammond frowned.

"Why do you say that?"

Anthony shrugged again.

"The stargate and the SGC are pretty big secrets, right?"

"The biggest on the planet."

"Which means you're not going to be able to let me just walk away, are you?"

Ah. Well, that explained a lot. Carter was right, Hammond realized. He _had_ been worrying about what was going to happen to him – and had probably been thinking of all sorts of awful things the government could do to him to keep him quiet. The general smiled, relieved that it was something so simple.

"We're not about to keep you a prisoner, Anthony. You're a smart man; I'm sure I don't have to explain to you what would happen if the general public learned about the stargate and the rest of what goes on here. A simple confidentiality form will suffice, most likely."

The smile was more of a relief than the words themselves. Anthony felt his stomach unclench a little.

"I wasn't sure…" he admitted. "Not that it mattered for myself, but now I've got Agustin to worry about, too, and-"

"We're going to take care of you," Hammond interrupted. "As soon as you let me know what you want to do."

Anthony raised an eyebrow.

"Can I go back to the Sheriff's department?"

"Not the one you were with when you were abducted," the general told him, slightly apologetic. "But if you still want to pursue a career with law enforcement, we'll make sure you can." He hesitated, and then shrugged. "You _have_ other options, however…"

"Yeah?"

Anthony wasn't so sure, but Hammond nodded.

"Of course. You could always stay with the SGC."

The deputy snorted – which hurt a little.

"I'm not smart enough to work here, General."

Which meant he thought Hammond was referring to him doing research or something. He wasn't, though.

"There's more than one kind of intelligence, Officer Ruff," Hammond told him. "We can use a man with your kind of background on an SG team."

"I'm not military." Anthony reminded him.

"You _were_, though. I've seen your file. You were a Marine, correct?"

"For four years," the deputy said, shaking his head. "And I didn't see any combat or-"

"You've seen and handled plenty on Ba'al's ship, Anthony," Hammond interrupted. "Anyone who can survive what you have can handle the SGC."

"Oh."

He wasn't really sure how to reply to that, but Hammond didn't wait for one.

"It's your choice, of course. You _could_ reenlist – and we'd make sure that your new rank reflected the fact that you have a lot more life experience and education than you did when you left the Marine Corp – or stay on in a civilian capacity. Doctor Jackson isn't military, after all, so it's not unheard of."

"_Or_ I could continue being a cop somewhere else…"

"Yes."

"When do I have to decide?"

"There's no rush. The sooner we know the sooner we'll be able to set it up, but you're not healthy enough to leave, yet, so there is plenty of time. If you're interested in working here, you might take some time to discuss things with Colonel O'Neill or one of the members of his team. They could give you some idea of what it's like around here – I doubt you've seen much from here."

Anthony hesitated, but then nodded. It wouldn't hurt to discuss it – although he wasn't sure the SGC was the place for him, really.

"Thank you."


	56. Chapter 56

_Author's note: Hi, guys. Sorry about making you wait on this one. I bought a new laptop and had to transfer stuff and work's been busy and all sorts of excuses for not having a chance to get things done. But here we go!_

OOOOOOOO

"It's good to see you up and about."

Anthony had noticed O'Neill enter the infirmary but really hadn't expected the colonel to do more than get a cup of coffee and leave again. It was really early, and Jack hadn't looked very awake. He pushed aside the report he'd been browsing and almost spilled his own cup of coffee with the action. He wasn't as nimble as he'd been, but he was regaining his strength quickly enough to please Fraiser – which _had_ to mean something, right?

"Did you know the Ghouls aren't _ghouls_? They're something called a Gow-uld."

Jack smiled slightly and looked over at what he was reading. It was a mission report from SG-3 – an old one that was still highly classified but nothing that they had to keep secret from the deputy who had already seen far more than the report would ever tell him.

"I've heard that. What are you doing up so early?"

The deputy shrugged.

"Couldn't sleep. General Hammond asked me to read some of these reports to get a better idea of what goes on around here…"

"Oh, yeah?"

O'Neill knew that. Hammond had already told him about the conversation he'd had with Anthony several days before – and about the deputy's reluctance to commit to the SGC. The general had told Jack that he was hoping that reading the reports would give Anthony a clearer idea of what was happening in more places than just one small county that could have its pick of deputies. _Hammond_ wanted Anthony in the SGC.

Anthony nodded.

"I think he wants me to stick around…"

Which was a reminder to Jack that they should never underestimate Anthony's observation and people reading skills. What the Sheriff's department hadn't taught him, living as a slave probably had.

O'Neill took a sip of his coffee.

"And you don't want to?"

"I didn't say that."

Although his tone _had_ been less than eager.

O'Neill reached for the report the deputy had been reading.

"So you _do_?"

"It's not that simple, Jack."

"Why not? Save the world or spend your time pulling over speeders and drunk drivers… how complicated is that choice?"

Anthony scowled – the first time Jack had seen him look annoyed. He was really a fairly decent sized guy, and with the training O'Neill knew the police departments gave their officers, he was sure that Anthony could hold his own in pretty much any fight. But Jack wasn't trying to start a fight; he just wanted to help the deputy run through his thought process.

"There's more to it than speeders and drunks. I have a son, now."

"I know."

"What you guys do here is dangerous, and I'd like to make sure he doesn't lose his father, you know. He's already lost his mother…"

O'Neill could hear the ache of that loss in Anthony's tone. It was still a raw wound, after all, and only time could help that.

"And if you go back to being a deputy, how are you going to guarantee to your son that you'll make it home every night? Being a cop isn't the safest occupation in the world, either."

"I know."

He'd known a few men – and women – who hadn't made it home.

"For that matter, you could die crossing the street in the middle of the afternoon," Jack pointed out. "At least here you'd be making a difference."

"I could make a difference as a cop."

Jack nodded.

"And you probably already _have_, I'm sure. But what you were doing _before_ Loki screwed up your life was small stuff compared to the SGC. Save a person here, serve and protect a few people there. This place…" he paused and set the report down. "It's different here. We're saving millions – even _billions_ – every time we stop the Goa'uld from destroying this planet. That's saying something, you know?"

"I know."

"But you're still not convinced…"

Anthony shrugged.

"No."

"Okay." That was fair enough. At least the guy wasn't wishy-washy and trying to please him by saying what he thought Jack wanted to hear. "Are you going to have breakfast?"

"I already did."

O'Neill looked over at the clock on the wall.

"It's 5:30."

"It was toast and cereal."

"Why don't we go out for some real food? Give you a chance at some fresh air…"

Anthony hesitated.

"The last time I did that I ended up getting a completely new set of organs."

"That wasn't because of the trip up top," Jack reminded him with a smile. "Come on. We can be there and back way before Fraiser comes in."

Probably.

"And if we're not you'll take full blame for me being gone?"

"You're not confined to the infirmary, are you?"

"No."

He didn't think so, anyway.

"Then let's go."

Hammond wouldn't mind him being off the base. Not for a short jaunt just to get some breakfast. Otherwise Jack would never have suggested it.

"What do I do with this?" Anthony asked, picking up the report. "Take it with us?"

"Not a chance," O'Neill replied, standing up. "We'll put it in my office."

Anthony stood as well, a little excited at the chance to get out of the mountain and see some people who weren't dressed in green or blue – or white lab coats.

"What are you doing here so early?" he asked, suddenly curious.

"I'm not early, I'm late. Hammond needed some reports from me."

"So you were up all night doing them?"

"Well, I wouldn't have been, except that before I could write the ones he needed, I had to write the ones from before then – and the ones before that."

Anthony grinned as O'Neill led him out of the infirmary.

"Is that because there's a lot of paperwork, or because you don't like to do it and let it stack up?"

Jack smiled.

"You're very perceptive, Anthony."

"I _am_ a cop, after all."

"Yeah, yeah."

Maybe they could change that, though.


	57. Chapter 57

If Anthony was expecting Jack to take him to a regular restaurant for breakfast he was in for a surprise.

"This is a _bar_, Jack…"

O'Neill nodded as he parked the car.

"One of my favorite places."

The deputy hesitated.

"It's kind of early…"

But really, it had been a long time since Anthony had had a cold beer. If it had been later in the day… Then again, it wasn't like he was _driving_ anywhere or-

Jack rolled his eyes.

"We're not _drinking_, Anthony. Come on."

He got out of the car and headed for the entrance; with Anthony trailing behind him looking around and feeling a bit like a tourist. There were enough cars in the parking lot to make him believe that there were at least a few patrons here – as well as the staff needed to serve them.

O'Neill held the door open for him and Anthony walked into a fairly large main room that was busier than he'd expected. And filled with the smell of breakfast and not beer. There were several tables – most were empty, but from the size of the place it did a booming business later in the day – and a few were filled with mostly people wearing military uniforms, he noticed. Before he had a chance to process much more than that, he was surprised to hear someone call his name.

"Anthony!"

He looked over and saw that one of the uniformed personnel he'd seen but hadn't actually noticed was Samantha Carter. She waved him over to the table in the corner that also held Daniel Jackson. Teal'c, however, was nowhere to be seen. While _he_ had hesitated to see who had called to him, O'Neill hadn't had any such problems. A solid hand on his back propelled Anthony toward the table and Jack held out a chair for him, putting him across from Daniel while O'Neill ended up across from Carter.

"Janet let you out?" Daniel asked, slightly surprised.

"She wasn't there," O'Neill told them with a smirk.

"But she's already released me from the infirmary," Anthony added. "I was in the cafeteria when Jack here invited me to breakfast."

"_Commissary_," Sam corrected automatically.

"Same thing."

Daniel looked like he was going to disagree, but instead he just shrugged.

"Are you hungry?"

"Is the food good here?"

Which was a dumb question, he realized as soon as he'd asked. If it _wasn't_ good, there wouldn't be so many people here.

Before any of them could answer, a waitress looking far too chipper for the time of day came over with a couple of glasses of ice water and two menus.

"Hiya, Jack," she said, cheerfully. Proving that O'Neill really _did_ come in a lot. "Who's your friend?"

Jack waved away the menu she offered him, but took the water.

"His name's Anthony. Anthony, this is Beth."

"The best waitress in the place," Daniel added.

Sam nodded her agreement, proving it wasn't just the fact that the woman was young and cute that made the guys approve of her.

"Nice to meet you, Anthony," Beth told him, handing him a menu. "Let me know if there's anything special you need."

She turned and headed toward another table, and Anthony looked at the menu, frowning when he realized something he hadn't considered before when Jack had invited him.

"I don't have any money…" he said, softly, embarrassed and feeling foolish all of the sudden.

"Don't worry about it," Jack told him, his expression clearly saying he understood. "I'll cover you. I figure I owe you at least that much for letting Murray hover over you the other day while you were recovering."

"Murray?" Anthony echoed, confused.

"It's what we call Teal'c when we're out in public," Daniel said, softly. "Teal'c isn't the most common name in the place, after all…"

"He comes _here_?" the deputy asked, surprise driving out the last of his concern at not having money.

"He wears a hat," Jack said.

"Oh."

Anthony wasn't so sure that a simple hat would be enough to make Teal'c into an Earthling, but Daniel smiled, recognizing the uncertainty in his expression.

"He doesn't talk much, either…"

"Oh."

"Have you decided?" Beth interrupted before Anthony could figure out anything more intelligent to say. Glad for the distraction, he looked at his menu while Jack rattled off what was clearly a regular order and Sam and Daniel asked for more coffee. Steak and eggs or French toast with bacon?

OOOOOOOOO

"I can't _believe_ you ate all that."

Anthony shrugged, not at all embarrassed by his appetite and shoved most of the last piece of toast into his mouth.

"Hey, it's been a long time since I've eaten out. Infirmary food isn't bad, but this is a million times better – and doesn't compare at all to what Ball was serving, let me tell you."

Jack frowned.

"We're not on the base, Anthony…"

"And no one knows who Ball is, Jack," he pointed out, leaning back and pushing his plate away with a satisfied sigh.

"He's got a point," Daniel said.

O'Neill scowled, but he had to admit that it was true. He and Carter had slipped far worse than that – more than once.

"Just don't make a habit of it," he finally said, taking a sip of his coffee. "Especially when you join up."

Carter looked over at Anthony, surprised.

"You're joining up?"

"No." The denial was instant, but followed by a little temporizing. "Well, _maybe_. I don't know. I haven't decided…"

"Hammond offered, though," O'Neill told them.

"Really?" Daniel smiled. "That's great."

"I haven't said yes, yet."

"But you haven't said no, right?" Sam asked.

"Not yet."

Uncomfortable, Anthony stood up. He wasn't ready to discuss his future. He didn't even know what he wanted to do – and what he wanted for Agustin.

"You okay?" Daniel asked, hoping they hadn't upset the deputy. He didn't _look_ upset, but really, the guy had been through a lot and hadn't had a lot of time to get everything back together.

"Yeah. I just need to use the bathroom."

It was as good an excuse as any. Anthony left the table, and the others watched him go.

"What do you think he's going to do, Jack?" Daniel asked.

"He'll do what's right."

"Which is?" Carter asked.

"He'll join the SGC, of course."

O'Neill sounded a lot more confident of that than Anthony had.

"What makes you so sure of that?" he asked.

"He's a _cop_, right? Cops don't make a ton of money, put their lives on the line every day and they put up with a lot of crap from people – even those that they're helping, sometimes. He already has the qualifications."

"Yeah," Daniel said. "To be a police officer."

"And to do what we do," Jack told them. "We just need to give him the right incentive."


	58. Chapter 58

Janet Fraiser was far more forgiving about Anthony leaving her infirmary than Daniel would have expected her to be. True, she gave O'Neill a look that plainly said she wasn't impressed with him abducting her patients without so much as a phone call to her to make sure it was okay, but the look she gave Anthony was far more understanding. Especially when she saw just how relaxed and cheerful he looked with a good meal under his belt and a chance to get out of the infirmary for a little bit. She didn't even put him back in pajamas, deciding that if he was well enough to be out and about, he was certainly well enough to be dressed.

She did keep an eye on him the rest of the morning, however, to make sure that the meal didn't give him indigestion – which could have unsettled him enough to cause some havoc, slight thought it may be, with his new organs.

He seemed fine, though, spending most of the time reading mission briefs that Jack O'Neill had handed him before he'd left – and accompanied by a couple of mission journals that Daniel had given him as well.

A quick peek when she came to check his vitals about midway through the morning showed her that it was the first mission SG-1 had been on. The one when they'd met Teal'c. It made Janet wonder what Colonel O'Neill had in mind, because she knew that it wasn't what they'd had the deputy reading the last couple of days.

She didn't ask Anthony, though. For one thing, he almost certainly didn't know, and for another, it was good for him to stay in bed – no matter how healthy he thought he was – and reading was a good way to keep him quiet for a while. He wouldn't need much time to recover from his surgeries thanks to the Asgard, but the short time he needed had to be restful. Reading was restful enough, no matter what the subject. It didn't make her any less curious, however, and she fully intended to ask O'Neill about it when he returned later in the day for his reports. Or Daniel, maybe, since the archeologist was a bit more talkative than the Colonel.

OOOOOOOOOO

O'Neill didn't return, though. And neither did Daniel. Anthony spent the entire day reading – with a break for lunch, which he ate while he read from Daniel's journal – and Fraiser didn't see hide nor hair of any members of SG-1. Of course, Teal'c didn't have hair anyway, but that was beside the point.

"How are you feeling?" she asked Anthony as she took his blood pressure before leaving for the night.

"Fine."

He was good-natured about her constantly checking on him – despite the fact that the machines were also monitoring such things as his blood pressure and heart rate – and was more than willing to put the reports aside to accommodate her.

"No pain?"

"A little bit. Nothing too bad."

"What hurts most?"

He hesitated and she knew he was taking stock of his condition so he could give her an honest answer.

"My head."

Which wasn't really what she'd expected.

"Really?"

He nodded.

"Think it's from spending the day reading?"

She nodded as well.

"I'd say it's a fair guess. No more for the day, okay? Rest your eyes."

"Okay."

She finished taking his vitals, which were well within the ranges she wanted them in, and looked over at the reading material.

"Did you learn anything interesting?"

The deputy snorted.

"Everything around me is interesting, Doctor. This stuff, though…" he picked up Daniel's journal. "Is absolutely amazing."

She couldn't disagree with that.

"It can wait until tomorrow, though."

"Yeah."

It had waited this long, after all.

"I'll see you in the morning, Anthony." She smiled. "I'll even take you to breakfast."

"Really?"

"Sure."

Colonel O'Neill couldn't have all the fun.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

His day wasn't over, though.

An hour after Janet Fraiser left, Anthony was lounging in his bed wondering just how much his head would hurt if he went back to reading when he caught a movement in his peripheral vision. He turned and saw Jacob Carter entering the infirmary and look over at him. A moment later he was standing by his bed.

The deputy had mixed feelings about Jacob Carter. On the one hand, he knew that Jacob had been the one who had helped SG-1 rescue him from Ball and his Jaffa. Which meant that he owed the guy everything. On the other hand, Jacob had scared the hell out of him during that rescue, holding that hand device thing above him so soon after Anthony had watched a man killed in what was almost exactly the same gesture. Which wasn't Jacob Carter's fault, Anthony knew. It was his own fault he'd been afraid – or more accurately it was Ball's fault. But it was still hard to forget that terror he'd felt.

"Officer Ruff," Jacob said, giving him a slight nod by way of greeting. "You look a lot better than you did."

Anthony nodded.

"I feel a lot better. Thanks."

"Well enough for dinner?"

Which took Anthony by surprise.

"Dinner?"

Jacob gave a wry smile.

"Jack asked me to have a talk with you. We might as well do it over a meal."

"Have a talk with me about what?" Anthony asked, curiously.

"About the difference between a Tok'ra and a Goa'uld."

Anthony noticed that his pronunciation of the word Goa'uld was a lot different than his own – and even Jack's. No wonder he mangled the word so badly.

"The difference...?"

Jacob smiled again, this time amused.

"Exactly why Jack wanted us to talk. Are you up for it?"

Anthony nodded, intrigued. If Jack wanted them to have the conversation, then it probably was a good idea. And would almost certainly be interesting, at any rate.

"Here? Or can we leave?"

"We can't leave the base – Janet Fraiser left orders that you don't leave without her permission – but we can go to the commissary."

Which was much better than eating in bed, now that he was feeling better. Anthony swung his legs over and off the bed.

"Let's go."


	59. Chapter 59

The commissary was deserted – which didn't surprise Anthony all that much. He'd pretty much gotten the measure of the place, and the schedules of those personnel who looked after the mountain base long after the daytime crews had gone home. As he expected, though, the warmers that held dinner for them all were still on and the stew that was in them was still hot and fresh. A large bowl of that, a couple of rolls with lots of butter to put on them and handful of crackers was all he needed to make a complete meal. It was a lot more than he'd had on Ball's ship, after all, and it was taking a bit for him to get used to eating real meals again.

Jacob Carter took the same thing he had and the two of them walked over to a corner table, away from the entrance.

Carter began to eat, showing no signs of starting the conversation that O'Neill had apparently sent him to have, and since he was eating, Anthony wasn't going to allow his stew to get cold. He ate quickly, unwilling to let the impending conversation do anything to his appetite and only when he was done eating did Jacob put his spoon down and give him a look that plainly said they were going to start.

"So… what do you know of the Tok'ra?" he asked without preamble.

"Not much," Anthony had to admit. "I know the Jaffa on Ball's ship didn't like them very much."

"Did you hear why?"

The deputy shook his head.

"I might have _heard_ it, but I wouldn't have understood it. I just heard the word with a lot of aggression behind the tone of voice."

"The Tok'ra and the Goa'uld don't get along very well."

"From what I've seen, no one gets along well with them – even other Goa'uld."

Which made Jacob smile slightly. His pronunciation of the word wasn't very good - but it wasn't much worse than Jack's.

"True."

"So what's a Tok'ra, then?" Anthony asked, unwilling to let the conversation drag out too long.

"The Tok'ra carry symbiotes, but aren't slaves to them."

"A symbiote?"

"The snake – as Jack O'Neill would put it."

Anthony gave him a blank look, and Jacob frowned.

"What do you know of the _Goa'uld_?" he asked.

"Daniel gave me a mission journal that mentioned the Goa'uld. I didn't understand most of it – which isn't his fault, since it wasn't made to be a teaching tool. They take over people and are in charge of the Jaffa…"

"Well, there's a lot more to it than that…"

Jacob could see that there was a good reason Jack wanted him to talk to the deputy. He knew O'Neill wanted to keep Anthony at the SGC – and really wanted him to join one of the teams rather than simply guard the place. But despite the fact that Anthony knew better than most just how dangerous the Goa'uld were, he was almost clueless about where they'd come from and who they were. Which was something Jacob could fill him in on. The Tok'ra pushed his tray aside and settled in. This was going to take a while longer than he'd originally thought it would.

OOOOOOOOOO

It was very late when Jacob Carter rapped on the door to Jack O'Neill's office. Not so late, though, that O'Neill was asleep in his chair – or on the sofa that sometimes became a makeshift bed when things were too hectic to go home to sleep. The colonel was at his desk, working on reports that Hammond had made quite clear he needed immediately. He looked up at the knock and waved Jacob in, not at all loathe to put aside the paperwork.

"How did it go?"

The Tok'ra shook his head and sank into one of the chairs across from him.

"Well, I'm pretty sure he's a lot less confused than he was when I started."

Jack smiled.

"That bad, huh?"

"He didn't really have the benefit of learning it all from _Teal'c_, you know."

"Yeah."

"Not to mention, living as a slave on a ship full of strangers that didn't speak his language and constantly tortured him…"

"So does he know the Tok'ra are good guys and the Goa'uld aren't?"

"He already knew the Goa'uld are bad, Jack," Jacob pointed out. "And I'm not completely positive that I've convinced him that the Tok'ra aren't, because we didn't have Selmac put in an appearance."

Which Jack had specifically asked them not to do, since he wasn't sure what kind of reaction Anthony would have had to that.

"But he's got a base to work off, now?"

"You mean when you put _stage two_ into play?" Jacob asked, his brown eyes showing the doubt that he and his symbiote shared when it came to O'Neill's self proclaimed brilliant plan to keep Anthony for the SGC.

"Yeah."

Jacob shrugged.

"I'm not so sure he believes in _the enemy of my enemy is my friend_, but I'm pretty sure he'll at least think about it a bit. God knows he'll probably _never_ trust the Asgard, but he might get used to the idea of the Tok'ra."

Which would be a good start.

"Well I appreciate you talking to him, Jacob."

"It was my pleasure, Jack. He's really an interesting guy when you get down to it."

Which Jack had discovered as well. Yet another reason to want to keep him around.

"I agree."

"But he has a _son_, you know… He might not want anything to do with this place once he's cleared to go."

"I know. We'll just have to give him a reason to stay."


	60. Chapter 60

True to her word, Janet Fraiser arrived at the infirmary an hour earlier than usual and took her patient to breakfast. While she had a very good time and learned a lot more about Anthony than she could have learned from merely looking at his files – which she already had – this meal had another purpose entirely. She used the time to watch him to see just how he was progressing.

She didn't let him know, of course, but he was a perceptive guy and noticed the way she was watching him. Since he was pretty sure she didn't have any romantic interest in him he figured that there was another reason she was watching him so intently. Which reminded him of when he was a kid and his mother would scrutinize him when she thought he was coming down with something. That thought firmly in mind, he was careful about lifting things without allowing his hands or arms to shake. He also made sure that he ate everything on his plate – a healthy appetite was a good sign of healing, he knew, and he didn't want Janet Fraiser thinking that he wasn't healing.

It wasn't before they returned to the base that she figured out that he knew. Which didn't bother her, of course. He was a cop; he was supposed to be clever. Even better, he'd passed the odd little physical – even if he did know she was giving him one. She sent him off to get some rest – which he didn't really need – or watch TV or read a book or something, and headed to her office to write up a report for Hammond.

Anthony wasn't ready to sleep, and he didn't have any interest in TV. There wasn't anything for him to do and really no place that he wanted to go – the commissary was the only place he'd been although he heard there was a full gym and even a library here, but he hadn't been invited to either of those places and didn't want to intrude somewhere on the top-secret base that he wasn't welcome.

Before he could decide on anything but just sitting down on his bed, he was startled by Teal'c, who had entered the infirmary without him noticing.

"Officer Ruff."

He didn't flinch, but he did tense up a bit – although he hoped Teal'c hadn't noticed.

"Teal'c. Good morning."

Which was all he could think to say, really. Small talk with Jaffa wasn't something he was used to, after all.

"Are you occupied?"

"Um…" the deputy hesitate, uncertainly, but shook his head. "No." He wasn't.

"I am on my way to have breakfast, and had intended to invite you…"

"I already ate."

"So I was informed…"

The Jaffa looked at him expectantly and Anthony shrugged.

"I could keep you company if you'd like…"

Which was pretty much the last thing he wanted to do but something about the way Teal'c had looked at him plainly said the Jaffa wanted his company – although he couldn't for the life of him figure out why.

"That would suffice."

Teal'c turned and left, and Anthony got up and followed him, shaking his head.

OOOOOOOOO

The Jaffa's breakfast was as impressive as Teal'c himself. A huge plate of eggs, toast, bacon, ham and even a stack of pancakes. Add to that some fruit, some juice and a glass of milk and Anthony had a feeling he was in for quite a show. Instead of starting in on it, though, Teal'c surprised him.

"How is your son faring?"

There was only a moment's hesitation before Anthony answered – mainly because he hadn't expected the question.

"He's doing well."

"That is good."

"Yeah."

"I, too, have a son."

Anthony hadn't seen any young Jaffa on Ball's ship, but he supposed that didn't mean that they didn't exist. They had to reproduce, after all, right? He wasn't exactly sure how to respond to Teal'c's comment, though, and there was a definite pause before he replied.

"Here on the base?"

The Jaffa shook his head.

"He lives with my mentor, who is training him."

"For what?"

"He is part of the Jaffa rebellion against the Goa'uld."

"Oh."

Jacob had told him about the Tok'ra rebellion, and had mentioned – briefly – that the Jaffa had a rebellion of their own. Anthony hadn't really been listening to that so much, since he'd been wrapping his mind up in the whole _good Goa'uld – bad Goa'uld_ thing.

"Indeed. I am very proud of him."

The deputy nodded, certain he was. Agustin hadn't done anything of moment but Anthony was already inordinately proud of him.

"You're not worried about him being part of the Jaffa rebellion?"

Teal'c shook his head.

"He is doing it by his own choice. He will fight for his people against false gods. There is reason to fear for his safety, but I would not have him in hiding and safe when there is the chance he can help our people gain their freedom. Would you not wish for your son to make a difference to your people some day?"

Anthony hadn't thought about it, but he was forced to nod.

"I suppose I would, yes. I'm not sure I wouldn't want to be hovering over him, though, if he was in the same position your son is."

The Jaffa looked at him for a moment, as if debating his answer. Finally, though, he spoke.

"I would be a distraction if I were there. Which would risk his health – and that of those Jaffa around him."

"Ah."

"Besides, I am needed here. Your people are waging a valiant rebellion of their own."

"From what I read, we already rebelled."

"Indeed. But the battle continues, does it not? Much remains to be done."

With that Teal'c started eating, leaving Anthony free to ask him questions or to simply stay and watch.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack O'Neill walked into his office feeling pretty pleased with himself. He'd finished most of his paperwork – enough that Hammond was satisfied, anyway – and there wasn't anything in particular he and his team were scheduled to do that day. Which would give him a chance to take a quick nap to make up for his late night. And to have a quick chat with Teal'c when the Jaffa had a minute to stop by.

He'd barely sat down at his desk when there the expected knock on the door. He grinned, feeling pretty smug, and leaned back in his chair.

"Come in!"

The door opened, but it wasn't Teal'c who was standing there at the door. It was Anthony. The deputy walked in as Jack straightened up in his chair.

"Anthony…"

"Colonel."

The deputy nodded a greeting and walked over to the desk.

Feeling just a little off kilter, Jack hid it quickly, but not before he gave himself away, he was certain.

"What can I do for you?"

The deputy sat down without asking, and O'Neill couldn't read his expression.

"You can start by telling me what's going on."


	61. Chapter 61

It took a lot to throw Jack O'Neill for a loop, but Anthony had managed it quite nicely. Feeling like a deer caught in headlights, he found himself unable to react nearly quick enough to avoid sounding guilty.

"Going on?" he repeated, dumbly.

"Yeah." Anthony had seen lots of guilty people in his time – a lot of them who even tried to act innocent – and he knew right away O'Neill was guilty of something. "With all the information you've been feeding me…"

"Information?"

Rather than be annoyed, the deputy was actually a bit amused by Jack's reaction. It had been a long time since he'd had someone so guilty in his sights, so to speak, and he'd actually missed it, apparently.

"Is there an _echo_ in here, Colonel? Come on, tell me what's going on and save yourself the trouble…"

"What do you mean?" Jack asked, gathering himself fairly well all things considered.

"Jacob Carter – who happens to be a _Tok'ra_ – comes by for a visit because you asked him to, Teal'c – another alien – stops by and invites me to breakfast for yet another conversation… all the information you've been letting me read the last couple of days. Something's up."

Jack leaned back in his chair, his face impassive, now.

"You've been on Ba'al's ship too long, Anthony. You've grown suspicious."

"I've been a cop too long not to know when I'm being set up, Jack," Anthony told him. "I just want to know what it is, before you decide to throw a Goa'uld or an Asgard my way to talk to me, too."

"I wouldn't do that."

He didn't know any Goa'uld who'd make small talk – and the Asgard weren't really ones to come at O'Neill's beck and call.

Anthony just looked at him, and Jack could see the determination in his expression that had probably kept him alive on Ba'al's ship – and the stubbornness that had probably led to many of the beatings he'd endured. The deputy wasn't going to leave until he told him what was going on.

Which wasn't such a bad thing, really.

"We don't want you to go back to being a cop."

The deputy hadn't expected that response. For that matter, he hadn't really expected an answer at all; just more denials. Now it was his turn to resemble a deer in headlights.

"What? Why not?"

What could they possibly have against him being a police officer? Was it a security thing? He'd already signed a couple of forms, what more could they-

"We want you here," Jack said, cutting into his wildly racing thoughts.

"Here?"

"At the SGC," O'Neill confirmed, resisting the urge to ask about an echo. "I know Hammond's mentioned the idea to you – and so have I. It can't come as that much of a surprise."

"Well…"

Really, he'd thought they were just being nice – throwing the ex-cop a bone by the way of a compliment by mentioning that there might be an opening for him. Or maybe they'd been feeling either guilty or sorry for him – neither one was a good reason for trying to find some kind of place for him on the secret base, as far as he was concerned.

"I didn't think you guys were serious."

"We are."

Which sounded sincere.

"Oh."

"I figured – and Hammond agreed – that the more you knew of what went on around here, the more likely you'd be interested in joining up."

"I suppose that makes sense… but it's not something I can just decide on right away. I have a responsibility to my son, now. To make sure that he's taken care of and-"

"You think he'd be happier in a world taken over by the Goa'uld?" O'Neill interrupted.

"That's not going to happen."

The look Jack gave him now was tinged with scorn – either for Anthony's ignorance or for his naïveté.

"You've seen them."

"You said the Asgard keep them in line."

"The Asgard aren't perfect. They've screwed up before, and probably will again. We can't rely solely on them to protect us. Look at the bang up job they did protecting _you_, after all."

Which made Anthony scowl.

"Look," Jack said, sitting up straight and then leaning forward slightly, ready to make his case. "We could use you. You already know how to shoot, your police training has taught you how to deal with split second decisions and accept the consequence for the decisions you make – and you're already in on the secret. Not to mention, you don't like the Goa'uld."

"It's not that simple, Jack."

"Yeah, it really is, Anthony. This isn't about you – and I know the whole whether you stay on the top-secret base seems to be about you – but it isn't. This is about a while lot more than that. It's about the kind of world you want your son to grow up in. It's about the people here who could use any more help they can get. Most importantly, it's about making sure that the Goa'uld don't do to us what they did to those desert guys that Loki left you with."

He could tell that struck a chord – and he'd meant for it to. He wasn't going to manipulate the guy into joining the SGC, but he was definitely going to make sure all the facts were laid out before he let Anthony decide to go back to being a cop – or retiring somewhere that it was sunny and warm year round.

"You really think this little group of people can save the world if it comes to a fight?" Anthony asked him after a long, thoughtful pause.

"Teal'c's using a smaller group than this to try and save his entire _race_," O'Neill pointed out. "If he can do that, why can't we save the world – and maybe some other ones while we're at it?"

Why not, indeed?

Anthony shrugged.

"Let me think about it, okay?"

"Sure."

As long as he didn't wait too long, of course.


	62. Chapter 62

Anthony left O'Neill's office intending to head back to the infirmary. He had a lot to think about, after all. Before he reached the end of the corridor, however, he was brought up short by someone calling his name. He turned, feeling just a little annoyed at being interrupted, but smiled when he saw that it was Hammond who had called him – and tucked in one arm watching him was Agustin.

"General…"

He walked over to meet the general, who passed his son over to him as soon as they had gotten close enough.

"Deputy. I thought you'd like some company today. Doctor Fraiser says you're well enough to be able to handle him for a while."

Anthony smiled down at the boy, who has grabbed the button on his shirt and was playing with it.

"Thank you."

"You're welcome." Hammond handed him a diaper bag that was bulging with far more than diapers. "I'll be by to pick him up before I leave – around five."

Anthony nodded, but as Hammond turned to head to his office Anthony had a sudden thought.

"General. Can I go off base?"

Hammond turned.

"Where would you go?"

The question wasn't dismissive, it was curious, and Anthony hesitated, looking down at Agustin.

"There's a park somewhere near by – Daniel told me about it. We could spend the day there."

The general smiled.

"Why not? It's a beautiful day and it'd give you a chance to spend some time getting to know each other better. I'll have a driver waiting for you at the elevators."

"Thank you."

He didn't argue about the driver – who would almost certainly be a guard of some sort as well. It wasn't a bad thing to have someone with them that knew where everything was – and could help Anthony out if something came up.

"We'll swing by the commissary and make up a picnic lunch," the deputy told his son, who nodded – even though he probably wasn't sure what a picnic lunch was, and almost certainly didn't _care_. "Okay?"

"'kay."

Anthony grinned, thoughts about the end of the Earth and the battle with the Goa'uld and everyone else driven out of his mind by the cheerful agreement. It was also the first word he'd heard his son say – even though he'd been babbling nonsense sounds from the day they'd met.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The park had been well beyond walking distance – which made Anthony glad for the driver – but it would have been worth the walk. There was everything a father and his year old son could have possibly asked for. An assortment of slides, swings and jungle gyms, a play area with a fort that had all sorts of walkways, ropes, monkey bars and things to keep a child active all day. Even a child who was barely walking and not even certain what everything was supposed to do.

By the time the sun started to set and the driver told them it was time to go, they were tired and Agustin was grumpy – a sure sign he needed to eat again and probably would be asleep as soon as they got him into his car seat. They'd both had a great day though – Anthony probably more than Agustin, since the more he'd watched his son the more he'd seen Cathy in him. Heart wrenching, yes, but amazing nonetheless.

"Did you have a good time?" Hammond asked when he'd checked in with the general to tell him that Agustin was sleeping in the infirmary under the watchful eyes of Janet Fraiser and her staff.

The deputy nodded.

"It was great. Thanks."

The general nodded, looked like he was going to say something else, but clearly changed his mind.

"I'll see you in the morning, Anthony."

"Yes, sir."

OOOOOOOOOOO

He took a shower and changed into clean clothes before returning to the infirmary. Unfortunately, Hammond had already been by to pick up Agustin, so he didn't have a chance to say goodbye for the night. He hid his disappointment as well as he could, assured Janet Fraiser once more that the day hadn't been too exhausting for him, and then escaped, telling her that he was going to go get some dinner.

Only when he'd found himself sitting in the commissary with his dinner in front of him did he have a chance to think about the conversation he'd had earlier that morning with Jack. The SGC had a lot of people already. _Brilliant_ people like Carter and Daniel Jackson and who knew how many other specialists that he didn't know about and hadn't heard of. What would he be able to add to that? True, like O'Neill had said, he was good at making quick decisions and was a better than average shot. The Marine Corp had taught him both of those skills, and he'd honed them in his many years as a deputy. He was also a fair judge of character, which he supposed could come in handy in a crazy place like this.

On the other hand, there were probably a lot of people who could make decisions around here – and lots of military personnel with sidearms. Probably all fine shots. He sighed, and leaned back in his chair, his meal getting cold, but not really interested in eating it. He liked being a deputy. He'd been good at it. He'd made a difference.

But, like Jack had said… he could make a difference here, too. Probably.

He closed his eyes, wishing for about the millionth time that Cathy were there with him. She'd be able to tell him what to do – and would have done so more than willingly. He imagined the two of them sitting at their table, talking over a cup of coffee. She'd ask him about his day. He'd tell her about spending time with their son. She'd smile, proudly. So proudly that even the thought of that smile made his eyes tear up when he thought about it.

_What kind of world do you want our son to grow up in?_

The question was so clear that he actually opened his eyes and looked around, expecting to see her sitting by him, whispering in his ear. The only people he saw were a group of Air Force personnel who had entered the room after he'd gathered his dinner and they were far enough away that he couldn't hear what they were discussing amongst themselves.

_What kind of world for Agustin_? The question was out there, now, even though he knew it had come from himself and not Cathy. And that question only had one answer.

A Goa'uld free one, of course.

Which meant that there was only one answer he could give O'Neill. One way to be certain he had a hand in changing the world for his son's future.

When he saw Jack O'Neill in the morning, he'd tell him he was in.


	63. Epilogue

**_Epilogue_**

Alarms sounded throughout the SGC, warning the personnel that the Stargate was activating. The iris closed with the sound of a hundred metal blades slashing against each other, with the noise immediately followed by the sound of several automatic weapons being cocked and readied in the event that the Marines would need to repel any invader who might come through the gate.

Up in the command center, however, the tension eased immediately as the computer confirmed that the other end of the wormhole was occupied by friendlies.

"It's SG-6," Sam Carter told General Hammond, who had entered the room as soon as the first alarm had gone off.

The general didn't smile, but his expression did lighten a little.

"Open the iris, Major."

"Yes, sir."

Watching the iris through the blast window she palmed the hand reader that controlled the shield protecting the Stargate. A moment later four men emerged from the wormhole, each one looking dusty and a bit dirty, but healthy and hale to judge from the way they were walking.

Hammond and Carter both left the control room to go down and meet them – and neither was surprised to find Jack O'Neill, Teal'c and Daniel Jackson had somehow found their way to the gate room by the time they'd arrived.

"Colonel Blake," Hammond said by way of greeting to the Commanding officer of SG-6. "How did it go?"

"Smooth as fine wine, sir," came the reply. "There's no sign of Jaffa activity on P67-D33. The locals tell us the last time they had visitors it was the Asgard, and they don't have much contact with them, either."

"Good. Clean up and get checked out and we'll debrief in an hour."

"Yes, sir."

Released from formality by that dismissal, Jack stepped up to Blake as soon as Hammond left the room.

"So how did he do, Roger?"

The Colonel smiled.

"Ask _him_, Jack."

Jack turned to the other men on the team, and raised an eyebrow at Anthony Ruff, whose brand new uniform was as dusty as the others. The deputy turned Marine had already started wiping the barrel of his P90 to get it clean.

"How'd it go, Anthony?"

"Call him _Lieutenant Ruff_, Jack," Blake interjected. "He's got to get used to it. I called him that a dozen times in the last three days and he ignored me half the time."

Anthony smiled.

"I said I was sorry."

"You're sorry, all right."

The tone was friendly, though, and the ribbing good-natured. It was clear to Jack – and the rest of SG-1 – that Blake liked his newest team member. From the grins on the other guys, they did, too.

"So?"

Jack was back to the original question, and Anthony shrugged.

"It was fine, Jack. Just like training…"

"And if it hadn't been?"

"Then we'd have taken care of things."

O'Neill smiled.

"Good answer."

Anthony's smile was amused. He'd spent a couple of months at Quantico – the Marine Corp's military training school – first doing Officer Training school, and then Basic. It had annoyed O'Neill when Anthony had decided that he'd rather be a Marine again than switch over to the Air Force, but when Anthony pointed out that he could still change his mind and be a _deputy_, Jack had simply sighed a sigh of long suffering and then grumbled for a while. Anthony didn't mind. Once a Marine always a Marine – at least that was the way he'd figured it.

Besides, he liked the dress uniform better than the Air Force's.

""We'd better get cleaned up," Blake told his people, reminding Jack that they were still dusty – and ready for a much needed drink once the briefing was over.

"Yeah," O'Neill agreed. "You guys do smell funny."

Sam Carter chuckled and slid her arm through Anthony's, leading him off toward the door.

"What do you have planned for the weekend?"

Ruff smiled.

"I'm going to pick up Agustin and we're going to go to six flags. Want to come?"

Uncertain what to do about his son while he'd been away for training, and certain that he didn't want to leave the baby with complete strangers – something that had happened to him too many times already as far as Anthony was concerned – he'd had Daniel introduce him to the people who had been Agustin's foster parents since Cathy had been killed. Using the same cover story that Daniel had used to get Agustin from them in the first place – that Anthony had been forced to leave his wife to go undercover on a joint military mission and hadn't even known Cathy had been pregnant when he'd left – Anthony now explained to them that he was going to be forced to leave for training. And had asked them if they would mind taking Agustin in while he was gone.

Delighted at the idea of keeping in contact with Agustin – and touched by the genuine loss in Anthony's expression when he was discussing his lost wife – they'd agreed to extended babysitting whenever Anthony needed the help. It was a long way to drive to and from when he had an extended mission – anything more than a day or two – but the stability for Agustin in his formative years was more than worth the added effort. Besides, Agustin loved them.

Carter shook her head.

"Tempting as that is… We're leaving in about three hours."

"A weekend mission?"

She rolled her eyes.

"I _wish_. We're going fishing…"

"Hey! I _heard_ that!"

She looked over her shoulder with an innocent look.

"I didn't see you there, sir…"

O'Neill just scowled in mock annoyance. Anthony wasn't fooled for a minute, and smiled, feeling like he was a part of something far more than just the SGC. Between his new team and the others he couldn't help but feel that he was part of a new family. A group that was just as tight and caring as any he'd ever had with the sheriff's department.

All that was missing was Cathy – and he knew she'd never be completely gone.

**_The end_**

_So! Something different, eh? It was fun making up a new character and I hope you guys liked it. I'm really sorry it took so long to finish, though. Seems like everything was crazy while I was writing this one – my sister's stroke, me getting sick more than once, and a lot of changes in my schedules at work. But it's done, so let me know what you thought, okay?_


End file.
